Conflict
by CircleLogicWorksBecause
Summary: There are the major conflicts, those between realms and planets that threatens the life of humans. Then there are the little conflicts, between people who simply cannot get along or fit together into any kind of pattern. So of course, the Avengers must suddenly face both. Full SYOC.
1. Chapter 1

The Avengers have been in battle after battle. Nothing major, but everyone can feel something brewing. It's in the air around them that something is going to happen. The fights have been slowly increasing in magnitude. They seemed to be getting stronger, and more powerful. Attacks were scattered across the country as people tried to catch any heroes off guard. There was a prevalent fear among the public that the Avengers were going to meet their match.

SHEILD were given complaint after complaint. People were scared. Nuclear weapons wouldn't calm them. They wanted more idols, more people looking out for them. That's the only thing that would calm the masses.

So they started searching. They had the resources to find any number of people they wanted, and were going to find a few that had potential to train into the perfect heroes.

Nick Fury was scanning the nation for teenagers. He couldn't take adults from the workforce, they would get away and be found too quickly. But teenagers run away all the time, disappear all the time. Teenagers could be molded and shifted from their views.

When he located some, he zeroed in, preparing to pounce on them. Halloween. He would get them all on Halloween. Stark knew. He wasn't pleased by the fact he would be housing teenagers, but he had the space, was already used to housing several guests, an AI to take care of things, and the money. Not to mention Pepper liked the idea of new Avengers.

So the idea was in place, the plan was set. Fury was ready. The nation would be healed and threats would be squashed. Everything was perfect. Nothing could go wrong. Right?

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**Okay. I need 3-6 teenage Avengers. Some guys, some girls, please. Every type of person. The quiet, the outspoken, the quirky, the smart, the rebellious, the submissive, the angelic, the devilish, a quiet small person would be nice. Be creative and original, and try to be realistic and give your OC flaws. **

**Please be detailed with your form, and I would prefer the form sent in through PM, if possible. Follow the in-form parameters when they come up. **

**Also I have another story, Lifeless, that I'm writing with my own OCs, so this will probably be updated about once a week or so just like with that story.**

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BASIC-

Name:

Codename:

Age (13-19) :

Gender:

Public or Private School:

School Grade:

Powers or Skills:

APPEARANCE-

Height:  
Weight:

Hair:

Eyes:

Skin Tone:

Unusual Markings:

Clothes worn on a Normal Day:

To something Formal:

To bed:

For Halloween:

PERSONAL-

Personality (at least 3 sentences):  
Likes (at least 3):

Dislikes (at least 3):

Skills:

Weaknesses:

Hobbies:

Family:

Friends:

Significant Others:

Attitude towards dating/their type:

Person they trust most:

Fears:

History/Home life:

When they got their powers/skills:

HOW THEY ACT TOWARDS-

S.H.E.I.L.D:

Nick Fury:

Thor:

Tony:

Clint:

Natasha:

Bruce:

Steve:

Other teens added into the team:

How they reacted to being drafted:

OTHER-

Favorite Color:

Favorite Animal:

Place they've always wanted to go:

If they had three wishes, what would they wish for?:

Can I PM you questions about them?:

Anything I forgot:


	2. Made it in

**HEY! HEY YOU! READ THE BEGINGING FIRST BEFORE READING WHO GOT THROUGH! IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE FUTURE OF YOUR CHARACTER!**

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23 characters. You beautiful people sent me 23 characters. I asked for 3-6, wasn't expecting more than that, and got 23. You guys are fantastic.

But there is a bad side to that. I can only accept 6, or I'll be completely overwhelmed. This was a long, difficult process for me. A lot of the characters had obviously been labored over and treated with care, and I didn't want to reject those, of course. But the way they would all fit together would be important too.

This is what I'm getting at. 17 of you are going to be disappointed. And I was trying to think a villains for them to face, building up to the main villain. Then I realized, I have multiple characters at my fingertips!

So, if your character didn't get accepted, and you want to have them considered as a villain (each villain will probably last 2-5 chapters), just let me know. I really hope you all still stick with this story. Hopefully the characters that were accepted, the normal team, the villains, and the plotline will keep you reading even if you didn't originally get in. (Which I am so so so sorry for!)

Soon I will add the first chapter of the actual story, them all getting basically kidnapped on Halloween. Should be fun.

Side note: People that review earn more screen time for their OC. It's because I'm inclined to please the people I know are sticking with it.

Here it is! The list of accepted characters and their powers! (If you see their powers are slightly different, these are the powers they start off with. Each character will grow in some way during the story, whether in heart or in power)

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**Did you read the intro first? You better have. **

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Name: Taylor Harris

Codename: Battalion

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Powers: Creates copies of himself with limited range and numbers to give him the number advantage.

By Munamuna

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Name: Ricky West

Codename: Flame

Age: 15

Gender: Male

Powers: Controls fire, and is rather obsessed with it.

By Undescovered Potential

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Name: Monet Montgomery

Codename: Pitch

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Powers: Sonic scream, wall crawling

By ANGELnDEVIL

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Name: Charlotte Zoe Wesely

Codename: Rush

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Powers: Quick reflexes, extremely fast

By Storm229

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Name: Hartlyn Moore

Codename: Prodigy

Age: 12

Gender: Female

Powers: Extremely smart, technology manipulation

By Sexxy Malfoy

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Name: Winifred Nexus

Codename: She-Devil

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Powers: Emits heat and light when emotional, fire resistant.

**So there you go. Until next time. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Every character gets 400-600 words on their being drafted. Let's do this.**

**Charlotte**

"Trick or treat!" Sweet little voices yelled. A fairy and her older brother the glowing skeleton. Classics. With a small smile, I gave them each a Twix and watched them walked away.

I slowly went back into my living room, finding my dad sitting on the couch with a handful of M&M's. He turned over his shoulder and smiled widely at me. "What are you, again?"

I looked down at my costume. Tight black one piece, black flowing cape, black boots. My dark hair was in waves down my back. I had spent a good amount of time on making my tanned face pale, red lips, fangs, and the broken safety pin the appeared to be skewering my cheek. "I'm a vampire." I told him softly.

He sort of chuckle and threw another M&M into his mouth. I fell onto the graying couch next to him, listening to the sound of my mom making supper. Whatever it was smelled delicious. With nothing else to do with myself, I pulled my green earbuds into my ears and was instantly comforted by the familiar soundtrack. I was so comfortable that I groaned when the doorbell ran. Getting up sounded too difficult. But I did it and did my best to answer with a smile. Getting there in less than half a second made the journey more enjoyable, of course. It always does.

No, "Trick or treat" greeted me. Instead, a woman with dark brown hair pulled up into a bun and an official looking black suit stood there expectantly. "May I come in?"

"…I guess?" I mumbled unsurely. The woman walked in and went to stand in front of my dad. She cleared her throat and got to business.

"Hello. My name is Maria Hill, and I work for SHEILD, the organization attached to the Avengers. The nation is in need of more heroes to protect it. Therefore, we are searching for teenagers and young adults to join the current 6 Avengers. SHEILD has been monitoring your daughter Charlotte and noticed a few things about her that the team could use." With that, she flicked something towards my face. With ease, I reached up and caught it between my fingers, my hand moving before I even told it to. Looking closer, I saw it was only a pen.

"Will you come with me, Miss Wesely?" Frantically, I looked over at my dad.

"No," he said suddenly. "No, she won't go with you. She's only 17!"

"She's one of the very few capable of what we need her to do, Mr. Wesely." Maria informed him coolly. I didn't know how to react at first, but then I realized. It was the Avengers. As in, the most amazing people inhabiting the Earth Avengers. The ones that, by joining, would let me do something useful with myself instead of being taunted.

"I want to go," I informed them both. The sounds in the kitchen stopped and the sound of high heels clicking across the floor started. My mother appeared in the doorway, looking beautiful as always.

"You want my baby to join a dangerous group to save the world?" She started. But then she looked at me, and something in my face must have shown how badly I wanted this. My mom took a deep breath. "Well, she's not going without eating something first!"

**Winifred**

I stomped out of the house. That man would never be my father. There was no way in _hell_ that I would accept that moron jerkface as family. It was that word that he used, that word that cut right through my soul.

Mutant. Freak. Two words, I guess. Either way, words that cut deep.

He got me mad enough that I started glowing. I still was when I reached the backyard deck. Ashton already hated me for my Mexican complexion, the way my illegal immigrant mother had a child before he got around to getting to her. The fact that he had another reason to hate me just made it all worse. Yeah, sometimes I got really hot and glowed. That one time when I fell into a campfire I came out completely fine, not even first degree burns. But that stuff was _cool_, not wrong. Right?

I was already all dressed up for Halloween. I had gotten very into it. My dark pixie cut was teased up and I framed my dark blue eyes with thick eye liner. The short fringed dress was perfect for my 20's flapper costume.

Now I probably wasn't going to that party. Ashton pissed me off too much, I'd be hot and glowing for too long to make it. My anger management needed a bit of work.

I stared wistfully into the already darkening sky. My dreams consisted of a sleek, shiny, fast motorcycle to race against some of the boys who were always arguing. Cars and motorcycles were some of the things that were always on my wish list. That, and a nicely functional family.

As I stared away from the luminescent arms, a noise startled me into looking back. Behind me stood a large, imposing man with a wavy blond haircut. "Hello?" I asked quietly, trying to will my glow to disappear. I tried so hard, forcing down my anger, and nothing happened. The glow and the heat retreated so slowly it might as well have done nothing.

"Hello, Miss Nexus. I am Agent James Johanon. I work for SHIELD. We are recruiting new Avengers to quell the nations fears. I understand that you are having family issues. You have our word, that if you come with us and train to help the Avengers with their justice, we will keep a close eye on your mother. Any abuse will be immediately reported and her boyfriend will be brought to the authorities. Trust me, you will be taken care of, and so will she."

That was insane. Absolutely insane. The Avengers? The famous, attractive, much better and cooler than I would ever be, Avengers? They would let me train with them, possibly even be one of them? What? And they thought that telling me that my mother would be taken care of was bizarre. My mother and I never had a stable relationship. She made me work in horrible conditions to keep myself alive.

"You will have somewhere that your little quirk will be of use." Little quirk. I wasn't a freak, I was only a little quirky. I liked that. Going with him, training and helping the Avengers, that wouldn't be horrible. Maybe there wouldn't be any more musicals or plays to perform in, but New York had Broadway plays to watch, and maybe I could even get a motorcycle.

So I took another look back at my sad living space and then back at the large agent in front of me. With a smile on my red painted lips, I nodded and took his hand, the heat radiating from it only a distant memory.

**Taylor**

Halloween. Soldier costume + a few water balloons = a fun night for Taylor. And he didn't even have to use his freaky mutant power. Just easily accessible fun stuff.

I was crouching behind a bush, waiting for someone to drench. I was hoping for one of the guys that bullied me to the point of power manifestation. Not like one of them would be trick-or-treating, we were all 18 here, but it was still a hope.

Next to me was another soldier, a girl. Her lighter hair was pulled into a ponytail, dark makeup smeared to look like grime. Nicole was just as ready as I was to find someone to soak. Bryce 'Rice' Fields was at home with the stomach flu, the poor bastard.

What I found was a grown adult in a very official black uniform. Was he going to take me away? This was the only good foster home I had ever found! I didn't need this! What had I done? My irrational side kicked in and the man found himself with a thin pink balloon to the side of the head. Water dripped from his cheek to his chin to his shoulder. After the fact, I realized that probably wasn't the best thing that I could have done. Nicole looked at me with panic in her eyes, questioning what I was thinking. Oops.

The man started for me with a stern expression and a steady walk. It looked like he was bee lining right for us, like he could see us through the bush. Nicole didn't move a muscle, leaving me to twitch on my own.

By the time he reached us, I felt horrible. If he was here to move me again, how could I tell Anna that? She would be disappointed in her older brother. A shiny badge was gleaming in front of the bush. "Mr. Harris, I would suggest you and your friend come out where I can see you clearly."

Nicole locked eyes with me and we both stood up and looked the man in the eyes. Or, I did. Nicole was too short to be at eye level, but she looked up with her hands on her hips. The man sort of smirked and flashed his badge once more before putting it away. "Good evening, Mr. Harris. I would like to ask your friend to either leave right away or sign several documents swearing her to silence."

Nicole looked shocked but then reached a hand out for the papers. She was reading carefully through them, twirling the available pen through her hand. While she did that, the man started talking. "I am Hugh Quartez, an agent for SHEILD, the partner organization for the Avengers. We are searching for more people to join them to fight off the increasingly intense villains. You are being offered a place with the Avengers."

My first reaction was no. Of course not. I had finally found a good home to spend the last few years of my school life. For once I had friends, friends that had found out about what made me so different and didn't care. Part of me believed Nicole liked having a friend like that. Anna might never be able to see me again if I was hiding with superheroes. So no, of course no.

But then I realized it would have been a good idea. Doing something useful with myself, I would make my sister proud. I would be a hero, something I'd always wanted to be.

I looked over at Nicole. She smile and pushed me and the papers towards the guy. "Go, Taylor. Go be a hero."

**Monet**

I was practically skipping. The party would be so much fun, at least, once I got there. I had gotten lost once already. But my phone said I was close, if the darned thing was right!

The white glittering outfit depicted me as the female version of Elvis, and I had been overjoyed when I found it. My friends invited me to a Halloween party, but it was getting dark and I wasn't sure the streets of Atlanta would be the safest once it got dark. Getting off the old fashioned plantation was nice, even if I already missed the view and smell of the fields.

I looked at the shops, just mindlessly window shopping. No money was even in my pockets, but window shopping was still nice. A new leotard for gymnastics, maybe some new charcoals for drawings. That would be nice. Christmas was only two months away. Things for the wish list.

Maybe a shortcut would be good. Even if it turned out to be not the best idea, I could get out. Sticky hands and feet made useful at times.

Some narrow paths between buildings were my destination. They were fairly dark, but I felt okay with it. I would be just fine with sugarplums dancing in my head. My footsteps clicked against the pavement and my ear registered something else with it. Another set of clicks that didn't belong to me.

Gymnastics reflexes kicked in. Immediately I was on the wall. My hand clung to the brick of the building, and my feet were flat on its vertical surface. I was at least 20 feet up almost 10 seconds after hearing the noise. Carefully I moved my legs so that the loose fabric didn't reveal anything that would be unladylike to show. Looking down, I saw a woman standing in the alleyway, an amused smile on her face.

"Come on down, Monet. I won't hurt you. I have a proposition for you." She wasn't from around Georgia. Her words were clipped, short, like she was biting them off as fast as she could say them, nothing like the comforting drawl of home. She was a Yank. Not that being a Yank was bad, that's just what my brothers called Northerners.

Very carefully I picked my way down the wall. At the bottom, my boots stuck the landing and I smiled back at the woman. "Hello ma'am. What is it you wanted to ask me?" I asked her, suddenly feeling that my own voice was weird in her prescence.

"Well, Miss Montgomery, you know of the Avengers? A partner to them, SHEILD, has employed me to retrieve you. You have some very interesting things you can do, things that could possibly benefit the entire country, maybe even the world, Miss Montgomery. I am here to offer you a position with the Avengers in New York. Sadly, your family won't know until SHEILD decides you are trustworthy." She told me quickly, in a high pitched tone.

I hesitated a second. This woman was powerful, demanding respect. If I was anything, it was respectful. She wanted me to save the world? I could save the world. The more I thought about it, the more I like it. "Well, ma'am, that sounds very nice. I will take you up on this proposition."

I was rewarded with a smile and a hand leading me to a helicopter.

**Ricky**

The party was over and I was on my way home. It was only a few miles to walk and I had plenty to amuse me. My lighters weight in my pocket was comforting, even if I didn't need it. The flickering flame between my thumb and index finger was proof of that.

My other hand clutched the Freddy Kruger mask that I'd worn to the party. I still wore his uncomfortable clothes, but my face was my own now.

The long sleeves covered up all the stupid burns scars on my arms, which was good. That left me carefree and happily walking home, my stomach filled with delicious, cavity causing, goodness.

I kept staring at that little flame between my fingers. Its potential wanted to grow, to swell into something powerful. How I wanted to let it! The bigger the fire, the cooler it was to watch. Explosions are even better.

I pondered that as I walked along the dirty sidewalk. A few noises of the city reached my ears, but it was overall pretty quiet. Smallish town, quietly respectful people, nothing interesting happens after hours. Or at least, nothing had for the past several years. That night it seemed to change.

A woman stepped out in front of me. She was pretty, too. Blonde, tan, and a nice body. Long legs and other great…aspects about her. Costume was really boring though, and could've shown more skin easily and preferably. Business woman or something else professional. She was blocking my path.

"Excuse me," I said trying to get past her. She just smiled at me like I said something funny. So I smiled back at her and tried to get through again. Her arm stretch out to physically block me.

"It's an interesting flame you've got going there." I looked down, realizing I hadn't extinguished it yet. It was out as soon as I saw it. The woman kept smiling. "You know about the Avengers? Of course you do. I don't know if you know about SHEILD, the organization that runs them. I work for SHEILD, Agent Sheila Spot. The nation is fearful, Ricky, and they are looking to the small amount of Avengers available to protect them. You can join them, you can make them stronger. Just come with me." Her voice was smooth, and she had a hand outstretched.

That sounded amazing. Off to save the world? Maybe not the world, but the country at least, when psychos in tights came after other people in tights. Did anyone in the Avengers wear tights? I couldn't remember. Hopefully I wouldn't have to wear tights. Spandex wasn't really my thing.

I must have stood there for a while without responding, because Sheila cut into my pondering. "Mr. West, are you ready to give me your answer?"

Finally, someone had asked the right question. I could finally give the right answer. I outstretched my ignited palms and smirked at her. "Agent Sheila Spot, I was born ready."

**Hartlyn**

It was my last year trick-or-treating, and I think it went well. Even though I knew trick-or-treating was childish and everything, free candy was never something to turn down. My Medusa hair had been slowly drooping all night and was just about to fall apart.

I was hungry for real food. Maybe I could convince my mom to let me make something Italian. Italian sounded good. Or I could just have a lot of 3 Musketeers. Walking around outside made me feel very small, surrounded by adults and even other kids taller than my 4 foot 10 inch form. I was small for my age. 12 years old. I should be taller, but I hadn't hit my growth spurt yet. I was just hoping for one soon.

Finally I got home. The electricity in out Halloween lights buzzed at me, asking questions I didn't understand. I politely ignored them and walked inside, trying to remember if I'd finished by Pre-Calc homework. I had, I was almost positive. It was sort of challenging that night, and my other friends weren't much of a help.

When I walked inside, something was amiss. My parents were speaking in low whispers, a dark, deep voice answering them. They were in the kitchen, that much I could tell, so I walked in to see them while my fingers absently tried to straighten my hair.

"Hello?" I called. When I saw a dark skinned, one eyes man at my kitchen table I started to comb through my memory for any sign of him. There was none. "Who are you?"

The man stood up. "My name is Agent Nick Fury, and I work for an organization called SHEILD. Have you heard of it, Miss Moore?"

I had. "Yes. They work with the Avengers, right? Funding and house of operations and such. They're cool. You're cool. Why are you here?" I asked him. He looked a bit strangely at me, like he was confused and unsure.

My dad looked at me. "Mr. Fury has a proposition for you, Sweetheart. You need to think about this carefully." He turned to Nick Fury. What could any of this have to do with me? I had school tomorrow! When a kid is 5 grades ahead they're expected to be on time and I couldn't be tired!

Nick Fury's eye focused on me. "You're a very special little girl, Hartlyn. Even now, your intellect and feel for electricity is growing, according to what we've seen. SHEILD is recruiting spectacular people to join the Avengers in their mission to keep civilians safe. If you'll let us, we'd like to recruit you."

They wanted me to be a superhero? I could be a superhero? I was only little still…

But I was always better than just little. I was always better, right? So I could help, right? I walked over to my dad and asked him with my eyes.

"It would be a good opportunity, Hartlyn. But we'll miss you here." My mom nodded in agreement.

"Could I still talk to my mom and dad sometimes?" I asked Nick Fury. He closed his eye and nodded once. I turned back to my parents. I looked over them and tried to make my decisions. I had to clear my head and think complexly. Eventually I looked back at Nick. Then back at my parents.

"Should I bring my homework?"

**?**

My girls sat around me. I examined them all, contemplating the mission ahead. I skipped over the girl with bright blue eyes and red streaked hair. She was too intense to start off with. I would wisely save her for later.

The very cheerleader-ish one with bleached blonde hair and very little clothing wouldn't do to start with either. She would like to toy with them, like a cat with a mouse. That would be a good thing to savor.

My eyes landed on the red haired, ivory skinned, beautifully curved young woman. She would play with them as well, but not in the same way. No, this one would play with one of the most primal urges of all. She triggered lust in everything she touched, and used it to make killing easier. Naturally attracted men, mentally played with their emotions, it would be a good way to rile everyone up. All of the girls had basic instructions.

"Hypno Heart, you're going in just a few days after the new arrivals are settled in. I know for a fact one of them is an 18 year old male, easily manipulated. I imagine you'll have fun with the Iron Man, and the 70 year old virgin. It's up to you. Just remember. You don't get killed. You don't get caught." I informed her harshly.

Heart shaped pupils and pink irises locked onto my steel colored eyes. Hypno Heart smiled and gave one satisfied nod.

**Current submitted villains, Death (Scarlett Todd), Feline (Tonia Heart), and Hypno Heart (Aphrodite Cullins). If I missed yours that you wanted to be a villain, let me know. More villains = longer story. **

**ALSO! For anyone who has a character, protagonist or antagonist, I need you to tell me, whether in review or PM, what they're superhero uniform is. This is important, people! The following chapters won't be like this. They'll be narrative style and hopefully flow better. I just needed to introduce all of the characters.**

**Until next time. **


	4. Chapter 4

**And they all meet! Sorry it's a bit short, but cut me some slack. It's Christmas Eve. **

6 helicopters landed at different times on top of StarkTower.

First came Hugh Quartez, delivering a very pale soldier known as Taylor Harris. Taylor had a hand on Hugh, trying to balance himself. Taylor had never flown before and the experience had not been kind to him. Hugh reluctantly helped him out.

An elevator released a group of 6 people onto the roof. At the front was a tall, proud man, none other than Tony Stark. Beside him was Phil Coulson, smiling warmly at Taylor. Taylor grimaced back. The others in the group, the rest of the Avengers, eyed the boy, their responses to what they saw varying.

"Not a fan of the transport," Taylor reported hoarsely. Tony smirked and was about to respond when loud blades whirring stopped him. Hugh let Taylor go, ignored the way the boy stumbled, and got back in his helicopter, leaving abruptly.

From the newly landed helicopter emerged a female agent in her traditional black uniform followed by a short teenage girl with dark hair and a sparkly white Elvis suit. Monet Montgomery. She walked forward shyly at first and then she ran for the edge. The female agent started to go after her until they all realized Monet was just sitting at the edge, her feet dangling into the open air. A huge smile was gracing her delicate face.

Her head turned to the side and she seemed to notice all of the people behind her. She lerp up and pranced over to Taylor, laying a steadying hand on his shoulder with a concerned expression. While steadying Taylor she turned to Coulson. "Hello, sir." Monet drawled.

More helicopter noises. Monet watched them intently, keeping a hand on Taylor. They watched two new helicopters land at almost the same time.

The first held SHEILD's prettiest active agent, Sheila Spot. Stark never hid the eyes he made at her and Sheila grinned at him and held a hand into the helicopter that was quickly brought back out with a 15 year old boy attached. Red hair, dark eyes, a flame between his fingers, Ricky West.

Ricky and Sheila were approaching the Avengers with smiles while the second helicopters patrons exited.

A girl with a standard vampire costume, save for the safety pin, was followed by an agent all of them knew, Maria Hill. Hill was busy, so she just nodded and hopped away in the helicopter.

Charlotte went to stand a foot away from Ricky. She waved lightly and Ricky loudly announced, "Hello!"

Monet was taking her hand away from Taylor, who was leaning away from the girl. "What is your name?" Monet asked carefully, her southern accent sticking out on a rooftop in New York.

"Taylor Harris," he responded softly and Monet answered with a smile and her name in return. Charlotte smiled slightly.

"I'm Charlotte." The vampire said quietly while taking a few seemingly inhumanly quick steps forward.

"We're expecting two more," Steve told them while stepping next to Tony. "We'll finish up introductions then."

Everyone nodded and waited in a rather uncomfortable silence. All of the agents left during the tense and awkward moment, making room for the remaining two. Finally, another helicopter saved them. Once again, two people approached the group. One was a tall blond agent, Agent James Johanon. He was followed by an angry looking girl with a black pixie cut and a short fringed dress. Bruce recognized the look on her face as one that was trying to remain completely calm. That wasn't something he was entirely comfortable with.

When Agent Johanon saw that Winifred was safely landed, he returned to his vessel and left. Win stayed, of course, and basically stalked towards the group of heroes. She stopped about a foot in front of the rest of the newcomers, hand on her hips, looking Tony Stark in the eye.

She reached out a hand. "Win Nexus."

Tony smirked and flung his hand out to meet hers. A firm handshake was given, smirks on both side. "Tony Stark. But, I'm sure you already knew that."

Winifred's smirk grew. She stepped back and examined the people around her. No clear emotions were seen on her.

The final helicopter landed. Everyone expected to see two separate people, a teen and an agent, but that isn't what greeted them. Nick Fury left the helicopter and no teenager followed him. Instead, he was holding a girl in his arms. Not the mature young woman people expected, but a little girl with white blonde hair, no more than 12 years old.

He was holding her for a very obvious reason. Her eyes were shut, her mouth partly open. The little girl was fast asleep. Fury approached them. "Rogers, do you mind?"

Steve rushed forward and took the girl, marveling at how little she weighed. Fury spoke quickly. "This is Hartlyn Moore. She is 12 years old, I expect you to take exceptional care of this one. She's fragile."

"Fury, she's a little kid!" Steve protested.

"And now she's your responsibility. Hartlyn is useful, and I dearly hope that you all are. Because if one of you proves not to be, you earn yourself a way ticket home. Good night." With that, the one eyed man was flying away.

Everyone was looking at each other, asking silent questions. Tony clapped his hands together. "Well, I guess that's that. Everyone had a room, so let's go and then we can all lay our pretty little heads to sleep."

All of the teenagers were led by a different Avenger.

Steve, of course, took Hartlyn to a large blue room and set her in a bed covered by a translucent white canopy. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face and walked out, watching the other Avengers leading other teenagers to other rooms on that floor.

Tony used a large arm gesture and Win found herself in a red room larger than any room in her old house decorated with silver accents. Not her favorite, but she liked it enough that she sent a smile Tony's way before going to hunt down some pajamas.

Monet was spinning in her new green room, fascinated by everything she saw, while Bruce looked on with an amused grin. He pointed out the drawer of clothes to her and let himself out.

Taylor was next down, looking around in a much more sophisticated way. It was gray, plain, but he was okay with that. Nothing too flashy was good. He nodded his approval to Clint and the archer shut the door.

Ricky was in a room that was decidedly not flame colored, something he wasn't all too pleased about, and there was too many wood furnishing for him to be very safe in that room. He informed Natasha of these things, who only rolled her eyes while she said good night and shut the door.

Phil gently led Charlotte into the last room, one that was a sunshine yellow in color. He told her about the clothes in the dresser and that there was makeup remover in the conjoined bathroom. Charlotte quietly thanked him and shut the door to the bathroom behind her.

All of the Avengers, minus Thor who was still in Asgard, plus Phil Coulson who was temporarily staying with them, went to bed. They knew well that they had to rest up for dealing with 6 teenagers tomorrow.

On the roof of the neighboring building sat a bored looking woman. She was undoubtedly the most beautiful woman who had ever been in or on that building, and she sat like she knew it. Her red curls blew in the breeze, and her glittering pink eyes were trained onto StarkTower.

Hypno Heart's right hand was lazily tracing the gold accents on her long sleeved black shirt. The tight material fit like a shimmering second skin, and the ankle length gold skirt with matching black accents flowed enough to allow her ease of movement. It was perfect for her, in other words.

Perfect to watch in. Perfect to plan in. Perfect to gorgeously, maniacally, grin at the moon in.

**There it is. Sorry, no Christmas themes. It's still Halloween. **

**Hopefully I'll get the next one out in a few days, and some people still haven't given me the person uniform, in which case I'll make it up myself like I did for Ms. Hypno Heart. But I rather like hers.**

**As always drop a review, tell me what you think. Did I do your character right? **

**Until next time. **


	5. Chapter 5

When Bruce woke up the next morning, he threw on a clean pair of pants, ran a hand through his hair without really trying to tame it, and pulled on some fresh socks. Then he munched on a Pop-tart and made his way to the lab and work on whatever project Tony had most recently started.

He expected Tony knelt over something, eyes red from lack of sleep. Maybe some mumbling. He didn't expect what he found.

Tony was sitting in his rolling chair, his head tipped back with laughter. Standing next to him was a very small figure, a girl who looked to be only 9 years old. Hartlyn, laughing with the billionaire. Across the room was Charlotte, still in her pajamas. Monet seemed to be waiting for something, her hands on her hips as she giggled like a schoolgirl. Beside Monet was Steve, a large sketch pad in his hands.

Bruce walked in and every eye was on him. "What's all this?" He asked hesitantly.

"The children need superhero costumes. You know, tights and capes." Tony informed him.

"Capes are highly illogical for an outfit that someone will be moving and possibly fighting in. Capes can get caught and trap the hero." Hartlyn informed them. The others didn't seem surprised by the little girls vocabulary and intellect, but Bruce rose his eyebrows.

"No capes!" Tony said sharply, a line straight from the Incredibles. A light chuckle was scattered around the room.

Bruce walked over to Steve to look at the sketch on the top pad. Monet had taken a green colored pencil and was added accents and patterns to the picture of Hartlyn. It was a white suit, tight and covering her arms and legs. The material would have to be stretchy and strong to protect the littlest Avenger. Golden boots and long fingerless gloves went over top of the suit. The green pencil was adding in thin green lightning bolts up the arms and legs of the suit.

"Lightning?" Bruce asked Hartlyn. That seemed like it belonged on Thor's costume. Hartlyn smiled, tightened her white-blonde ponytail, and stretched out one of her palms. She closed her eyes and a visible current of electricity was seen flowing over her fingertips.

"I'm working on projecting it further. It works better here, I think, because of the currents surrounding me. I could drain them, if I wanted, but Tony would not like that very much. Neither would JARVIS." Hartlyn informed the shocked scientist.

"Wow. That's, that's very good." Bruce managed to say. Hartlyn grinned.

Charlotte seemed to materialize next to Bruce. "Tony's trying to give us codenames already," She said quietly, with an amused smirk turning up the corners of her mouth.

"Little Prodigy over here is trying to help make the super fabric. Mostly she's just being cute." When Hartlyn started to protest, Tony interrupted. "It's a compliment, Squirt. I was complimenting you."

Hartlyn smiled, seeming to get over it quickly.

Monet tore the picture off the sketch pad and laid it out on the nearby table. She erased the loose blonde hair that had been drawn and redrew twin braids falling over Hartlyn's shoulders. Then she hung it on the glass wall with a piece of sticky white goop. Bruce hoped it would come off cleanly or Tony would be furious.

"Charlotte, you're up next dearie!" A happy drawl came out of Monet as she brought her hands together in a single clap. Charlotte looked uneasy for a moment before flashing over to stand next to Monet and Steve.

"What are you thinking, Charlotte?" Steve asked politely, already drawing Charlotte and waiting for directions on how to draw on the clothes. Tony and Hartlyn were waiting to add the function vs. form notes.

Charlotte paused and thought for a moment. She started quietly describing something, and Steve and Monet worked together to put it on paper. It was a black skin tight top, three quarters length sleeves that would be made of the same fabric as Hartlyn's. More skin tight material for her pants, almost like cargo pants. Ankle boots covered her feet. Blue and green swirls and streaks were added in to make the whole thing more aesthetically pleasing. Monet made Charlotte's long dark hair into a high ponytail before adding Charlotte to the wall.

Bruce just watched as the outfits came together. He was sort of amazed that of all things, that's the first thing they all focused on. Maybe it was better than focusing on the impending doom that was another villain.

After some time, they moved to the living room. Tony entertained the kids by relaying the story of when they fought Loki, Steve interjecting when the billionaire got out of hand with his remarks. During the long, overly dramatic story, Taylor, Ricky, and Winifred made an appearance and sat on a large plush couch next to the one that held Monet, Hartlyn, and Charlotte. Monet was drawing carefully on the large sketch pad, making her own costume while Tony had story time.

Natasha and Clint were soon on a loveseat. Bruce was settled into his own armchair across from Tony's. Steve was standing, leaning his elbows on the back of Natasha and Clint's loveseat.

Monet passed Steve the sketch pad around the point when Tony sent a nuclear missile through the portal. She had drawn herself in a yellow suit, with sleeves just past her elbows and pant legs that just reached her ankles. White boots were solid to her ankles and laces wrapped upwards a few more inches. White fishnets finished the rest of her sleeves so that there was something form her elbows to her wrists. The neckline was low, but not low enough to let anything slip. It was good. Monet had gotten more intricate with her hair, two small braids in the front pulled back to be tied together with a yellow ribbon.

Steve nodded.

"What's that?" Ricky asked, interrupting Tony's retelling of the closing portal. Tony glared at the short boy.

"We're drawing up costumes," Steve informed the rest of them. He turned it to show them Monet.

"Do me next!" Ricky proclaimed. He jumped up to go stand by Steve. Ricky started talking about what he wanted.

"Can I go on?" Tony shouted in annoyance.

Ricky looked up. "Of course."

So Tony went on louder than before and Ricky got quieter. Monet went to stand by the two and helped out.

Soon there was a picture of a boy with spiked orange hair, in a short sleeved tight shirt, red on the bottom fading to yellow on the top. His long red pants had yellow flames licking up the design and orange athletic shoes. It would be in the same material they were developing earlier, just a bit looser. His hands would be free, and the flames would make fireproof, or at least fire resistant, material a necessity.

The story was over and the others were basically playing the get to know you game. At one point Clint shot Tony with a Nerf gun for making inappropriate remarks in front of a child. That made Hartlyn giggle more than any remark Tony could have made. Now everyone knew Clint was armed and they were all being very nice to him. Natasha was just amused.

When Ricky sat down and Taylor got up to talk costume, the conversation turned to Thor. Win was saying if they needed a group of teenagers to save them, the world needed Thor to get his Asgardian butt back to Stark Tower. Bruce explained that his planet needed him too, and Win just waved a shimmering hand his way. Ricky started sweating from being so close to the heat Win was starting to be emitting. Having the two of them next to each was probably the smartest move that could have been made. Neither could be burned by the other.

Loki was also a point of conversation, and his lasted longer. Taylor looked up when he heard the words 'bullied orphan', but he quickly turned back to the sketch as if nothing had happened. Monet realized he was relating to those words and laid a hand on him to try and be comforting, but Taylor shook it off.

When the topic of Loki was almost exhausted, Taylor sat back down. His costume was simple and effective. Black cargo pants, black T-shirt, and a dark kevlar vest to protect him. He wanted a heads up display, and Tony would work on a speical pair of sunglasses to help out with that. Monet happily overspiked the black hair of the paper Taylor.

Win hopped up like she was grateful for the distraction. Taylor took her spot, surprised by the warmth of the couch.

None of them really knew anyone elses powers yet. Except Hartlyn, who had been very obvious about her stunning intellect and electric hands. So while Win was consulting the two artists, it became time to share.

The original Avengers went first. All they had to do was share with words, because all of them had seen the heroes in action on TV. Tony's Iron Man suit that shot lasers and bullets and had all kinds of other gadgets. Bruce's little green problem caused by rage. Win smiled when Bruce was describing the Hulk like she could relate. Natasha's deadliness in general, and Clint's archery. Steve was Captain America, reflexes, strength, and a sheild.

Then it was time for the new kids to share. Tony was practically bouncing up and down. "Can we give them hero names _now_?"

Natsha rolled her eyes, Clint shot him in the arm, and Bruce said yes. Tony grinned and waited impatiently for someone to share.

Hartlyn bounced forward. At some point she had taken out her ponytail and white-blonde locks of hair almost covered her sweet face. "I'm in 11th grade, and I get almost all A's, but Calculus is kind of hard. Also, I can take electricity from things and use it, and make my own too!"

Hartlyn then sat back down. "Tony already gave me a nickname, and I like it! Prodigy."

So Prodigy it was. Charlotte got up and zipped away faster than anyone they had ever seen before. Her power was suddenly obvious, and the tall dark haired girl came back with two drawings in her hands within seconds. Her and Hartlyn's costumes.

Monet handed Charlotte a green colored pencil, and in big bold letters, Charlotte wrote 'PRODIGY' on the picture of the costumed Hartlyn.

"I think you can all guess mine at this point," Charlotte said in her usual quiet manner. "The speed applies to my reflexes to. It's useful."

"Codename?" Tony asked the room. Nastasha smiled and looked Charlotte in the eyes.

"Rush. Short and sweet. It fits." Natasha informed the room. Charlotte smiled widely back at the redhead and wrote RUSH in big letters on the picture of her.

Monet walked over with all of the drawings, even Wins. Winifred was wearing a wine red catsuit, with a black belt that had a few gun holsters, and a black leather jacket. Also tall black leather boots. She looked ready to jump on a motorcycle and save the world. Monet had been very disappointed by the lack of possibilies the dark pixie cut offered her.

Next was the picture of Monet, so the whole group looked to her. The Southern Belle stood up and looked around thoughtfully. At she ran up to the wall and was scaling up it like Spiderman until she reached the ceiling and looked at the all upside down, a huge smile on her face. Then Monet was falling and flipping until she landed on her feet, unharmed.

"I can do something else too," Monet said slowly. "But it might hurt your ears."

Respectfully, everyone put their hand over their ears and waited. Even through the hand barriers, everyone in the room felt their eardrums groan in pain as Monet let out a peircing, paralyzing shriek.

"Supersonic scream," Monet clarified apologetically. Clint was the only one who seemed unfazed, and it became clear why when they all saw him putting his hearing aids back in. The new recruits all looked surprised. A deaf superhero? But the original Avengers were unfazed.

"Pitch," Clint offered. "How about Pitch?"

Charlotte waited for Monet's nod of approval before writing PITCH on the drawing.

Taylor's drawing was next in line. The oldest new recruit closed his eyes and smiled. Then he was on the armrest next to Natasha. And leaning next to Steve, and sitting where he was to start. And lining the room with around 20 more Taylors. Taylor was everywhere. He had multiplied.

"Yeah, this is cool and all, but please turn back into one guy," Clint said.

All but one of the Taylor's popped out of existence and the Taylor that was on the couch smiled at the archer.

"We need a name that means a lot of people. Like Squadron." Tony said, his hands making an arch.

"Or Battalion," Steve offered. "That's a group of soldiers."

"I like it," Taylor agreed. BATTALION was added to his picture.

Ricky didn't need to be prompted. He proceeded to snap and his hand was covered with a bright flame. It grew taller, then shorter, then was upside down, hanging off the back of his hand. He morphed it into a bird, blew on it, and the fire bird flapped it's way through the air before disapperaing right above Natasha's head. Win was smiling in approval of his trick.

"Someone is a bit of a pyromaniac." Natasha mumbled, checking to make sure her hair wasn't singed.

"Call him Pyro," Monet offered.

Ricky grinned. "It's perfect!"

PYRO was added to his picture. There was only Win left. The Hispanic girl stood up.

"I'm not sure I can do it on command, but I'll try." She closed her eyes focused. The others couldn't see it, but she was thinking back to when this whole thing started and the intense emotion that triggered it the first time. That did it.

Her tan skin started glowing, and heat could be felt by all of the Avengers, even those 10 feet away from her. Win's clenched hands started throwing off sparks and Ricky got up to put a hand on Win's back.

"Win, you throwing sparks. Win!"

"Don't touch me!" Win shouted, the sparks getting worse. "I'm trying to calm down!"

Ricky raised his hands in surrender and sat back down.

"Deep breaths, Win," Bruce said softly. Win followed his instructions until she was down to a soft glow and heat only a few inches off of her skin. Slowly, she sat back down.

"Thanks Bruce," Win thanked. Bruce just nodded.

"You're like a Devil," Tony commented. "Like some She-Devil."

"She-Devil?" Steve repeated with an amused smile.

"Yeah. Her veins are filled with brimstone." Tony looked at Win to make sure he wasn't making her mad and found her smiling and almost laughing.

"She-Devil. That's absolutely perfect." Win chuckled.

"Sure," Charlotte said sort of disbelievingly. She wrote SHE-DEVIL in big letters before stacking the pictures and handing them to Tony in the next second. Tony blinked and took them, realizing he had a lot of work ahead of him.

Natasha stood up. "I'll help you make those, Tony."

"You can sew?" Tony asked in shock.

"What? I'm not allowed to know how to be domestic now?" Natasha smiled and started making her way to Tony's lab. Tony stood up and followed her, shock still etched on his face.

Charlotte, Monet, and Hartlyn were all smiling after them.

"Anyone want lunch?" Clint asked, standing up himself. "I'll make grilled cheese."

* * *

I watched the sweet little family moment. The building I was perched on was quiet, I didn't even know what was in it.

I heard two thuds signifying my allies had arrived. Scarlett was sneaking, Tonia was slinking. Tonia really was cat-like in a way beyond that fact that was called her Feline.

"Have a plan yet, Hypno?" Feline purred from behind me.

"Of course," I assured her. "Just look at them, being all cute and oblivious. They're eating grilled cheese sandwhiches and becoming superheroes. They'll be fun to outsmart. Not to mention, She sent me some basic plans. I can't fail where She's involved."

"True." Death said shortly. She didn't add anything. She didn't have anything else to add.

"When are you making your move?" Feline asked. I smiled and turned to face her, my pink eyes locking with her blue ones.

"Two days. That's all they get to prepare."

"Perfect." Death said. "Let's go, Tonia."

They walked across the roof, caught a rope, and the hovercraft was off.

**There it is! Wow, that was long and greuling. Long chapter, grueling to write. **

**A few questions for you all so I can improve myself. What do you think of the villains so far? Who's your favorite new recruit (not including your own) and why? Your least favorite? What do you think I can do to me these chapters better?**

**Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

The next few days were surprisingly wonderful. The new recruits actually seemed to be getting along, both with each other and the originals.

After grilled cheese, they had all gathered in the living room again. Clint had turned on Brave, and Bruce and Steve smiled good naturedly, but it was clear they had watched this movie moany times.

"Why do you like this movie so much?" Steve asked with genuine curiosity, not mocking at all.

Before Clint could answer, Taylor did. "Merida is an archer, much like Katniss over here, but we're not watching Hunger Games because there aren't any pretty main character redheads in Hunger Games, and Katniss likes his redheads."

"Really?!" Clint exclaimed. "You're calling me Katniss now too? And where did you get the idea about redheads?"

Taylor smiled. "What? Like you and Natasha weren't curled up with each other on the loveseat."

Clint didn't answer, just turned a glare to the TV. After a minute or two, he turned back to Taylor. "You would do well to not bring that up around her."

Taylor smiled again and watched the movie. Hartlyn was leaning forward on her elbows, entranced by the show in front of her. Taylor couldn't help but look at her and remember when he left his foster home to go find Anna after he was sure she was hurt. An innocent little face on a petite little body. Just like his little sister.

Charlotte was only half paying attention to the movie. The other part of her attention was directed towards Monet. The southern girl had sat down next to Taylor and her body language was all aiming for Taylor even though she was watching the movie. Charlotte found it interesting, but turned back to the wild haired archer onscreen with her usual unreadable expression.

Natasha walked into the room near the end of the movie with a huge, overflowing bowl of popcorn. It was only 15 minutes until the end, but the grabby hands of the heroes finished off the buttery, salty goodness before the credits ended.

"Tony's still working on the fabric. I got some patterns ready, but I'll need measurements." As soon as the last credit rolled, Natasha was all business.

Hartlyn popped up and ran right in front of Natasha. Natasha couldn't stop the smile that formed on her face when she looked into the eyes of the little girl. "Alright."

The tape measure was wrapped around Hartlyn in several places. When Natasha was done and all of her measurements were written down, she swiftly knelt behind Hartlyn and her fingers deftly made work of the wildly loose blonde hair. A French braid was complete in less than a minute. Hartlyn passed back a ponytail holder and Natasha tied off the braid. Natasha stood up and looked Hartlyn over. "Much better. Who's next?"

That was when Hartlyn started trusting Natasha. Charlotte started trusting her, even liking her, the next day.

Charlotte got up early without meaning to and heard something far away, her reflexes having just barely made her hearing better. She threw on a yellow T-shirt and dark jeans before going to search where the odd noise was coming from.

What she found shocked her. It was a hardened, tough assassin twirling around a room with wood floors a wall sized mirror. Natasha was spinning and twirling, jumping and dancing like the most seasoned ballerina.

The source of the weird sound was whatever music player was in that room. It wasn't a traditional ballet, but something harsher and lower. The moves of the redhead matched. It was a beautiful dance, and an interesting song choice.

_No one mourns the wicked__  
__No cries they won't return_  
_No one lays a lily on their grave_

Charlotte realized she was spying on an assassin and started to back away.

"I know you're there." A low voice penetrated the music. It was Natasha, even though she was still dancing.

"I'm sorry, I'll just go," Charlotte said softly, turning on her heel.

She stopped when she heard the music get dramatically softer. Natasha had stopped and was taking a long drink of water, her eyes trained on the teenager.

_And Goodness knows the Wicked's lives are lonely__  
__Goodness knows the Wicked die alone_

Natasha approached Charlotte, and the younger yet taller girl felt like she was being cornered. So the genuine concern in her voice startled Charlotte. "It's 3 in the morning. Why are you up?"

"I couldn't sleep and I heard weird music..." Charlotte quietly trailed off.

"You don't like it?" Natasha grinned. Charlotte backtracked.

"No, no, it's good music, but...why are you up?" Charlotte turned the question back around. Natasha's grin turned into a small, sad smile.

"None of us can really sleep anymore, Rush. We're all horrible insomniacs. And we all cope differently. Clint sits on the roof or shoots things, Bruce and Tony tinker in the labs, Steve draws and watches old movies, and I flip around in the air or fight dummies. It's how we cope. And for your sake, Rush, I hope you never have to find a way to cope like we do. We've done terrible things to get this way, and now it's our job to stop you from becoming the same way." Natasha turned and she walked back into the room.

"But I suppose you could just run around the city a few times if you needed to." Dumbfounded, Charlotte did just that.

Trust formed between a lot of the newbies and the originals.

Win started trusting Tony when he brought her down into his extensive garage against her will.

"But my cars are so pretty!" He had exclaimed before forcefully dragging her down. Win had told Tony a day earlier how she had always admired faster, sleeker vehicles from afar. She figured Tony wanted to gloat that he always had them up close.

When they got down into the surprisingly well lit area, Win was in awe. No snappy retort waited on her tongue, and her sarcasm died in her throat. The things she was surrounded by were ungodly beautiful. Cars that were sleek and low to the ground and looked fast and fluid even motionless. Almost all of them looked that way, except for a few regular cars she assumed were there for when they needed to stay on the down low. One was probably Pepper's.

"Now close your eyes," Tony whispered excitedly. Win just shot the immature adult a look, but Tony shot one back and Win placed his tanned hands over her dark blue eyes, successfully blocking her vision.

Tony was gone from her side and it took all of Win's little willpower to not uncover her eyes and see what the hell he was doing. After a minute or so of shifting noises, Winifred head a "Ta-da!" from Tony.

So she let herself see. And she was so glad she did.

In front of her was a red motorcycle very close to the style of a Kawasaki Ninja, but with some Stark flair. It was a dark, shimmering red. The two seats were black and smoothly blended into the bike. It wasn't sleek or inconspicuous, but it was perfect.

"It's the She-Devil-mobile! I thought you might want one." Tony told her with a smile. Win's self-control was gone, she was starting to heat up, and she flung her arms around the only person who ever gave her something substantial and all her own.

"Thank you," She mumbled and pulled away before she burned the poor man. Tony didn't say anything back, just tossed her the keys and a helmet.

Hartlyn already seemed to trust everyone the moment she met them. And everyone was okay with that. It was nice to have someone so sweet and angelic around all the time.

Ricky let Bruce mess with his fire to get his gloves just right. That required a huge amount of trust on both ends. They both came out a little better friends after that incident.

Monet helped Clint cook one night, teaching the Iowa born male the ways of the Southern girls. Both of them learned a few things and even thought Monet did most of the talking, she learned a few things about Clint's past too. Not once did she call him Katniss, Legolas, Merida, Robin Hood, or anything like that. She was Monet and he was Clint.

Taylor talked to Steve extensively one night. Neither of them could sleep, as it turned out, and Taylor had meandered out to where Cap was watching some black and white movie.

They ended up talking about when Steve was still in the military. How he was sort of forced to be the puppet, the dancing monkey, and then all of a sudden the leader. The leader is the quality Taylor found himself immensely respecting in the man.

Anna was brought up at one point. She was still sort of a sore subject for Taylor though, as he had to leave her for this, and that part of the conversation was brief.

Two days passed quickly. Everyone got a little bit closer, made a little bit of a friend. Not huge leaps and bounds of trust, but enough. It was enough.

Hypno Heart was too good for the security. She had her orders, her plans, and she stuck to them.

In the morning, when everyone woke up and slowly congregated into the kitchen where Clint was making pancakes, something was wrong.

Wasn't Steve always out there first to talk? Always?

And…Taylor was never this late to breakfast, was he?

**Dun dun DUN! Cliffhanger if I ever did see one. **

**Where's Steve and Taylor? How did I do on all the little trust bits? Is it too rushed with the trusting? How jealous are you of Win's motorcycle? (Correct answer: Very)**

**Until next time. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry, the beginning is a little bit weird and rushed. Also, I decided to start responding the comments at the end of the chapter with all of my questions for the reviews, as usual. **

**Enjoy!**

Hypno Heart was stalking them like prey. Taylor and Steve were trapped and they felt absolutely helpless. And Hypno knew it.

She stood in front of the bars that separated her from her prisoners and watched the famed Captain America pace. The boy, she had come to learn his name was Taylor, was sitting and glaring at her. Sometimes he would split into several copies of himself that would get all up in her face that she waved away because she knew they couldn't break through. But she knew what was going on in their heads.

Hypno Heart was the pinnacle of uncontrollable emotion manipulation. Just by being in her presence, men experienced large amounts of lust. Even virtuous virgins like the two in front of her. As much as they hated her, the attraction they felt would be strong.

She taunted them, of course. At least at first. Manipulated their unwanted lust. Made comments that sent them reeling against what they felt and shot out innuendos like it was her job. It was, really, but seeing the blush on the older man's face was more rewarding than anything She could give her. To be honest, she was feeling lusty as well. She sedated Taylor so he couldn't multiply on her and put him in a different cell, leaving Steve by himself, until Hypno Heart let herself in.

When she turned up her projection, she tried convincing the good captain to have some fun. He blushed and stammered. He tried to deny her. And he was the only man Hypno Heart had ever seen succeed in doing so. She didn't get out completely unsatisfied. A long hot kiss was shared between the two and she reveled in the blush that rapidly spread up the blond man's cheeks. The feeling of slight guilt was sent down into her stomach. There was no guilt. Just lust, just glory.

A few days passed with the two men, though one was still really a boy, separated. And against all odds, Hypno Heart started having conversations with the good captain. She convinced herself it was because she was lonely and bored, and shoved down anything that suggested otherwise. She started calling him Steve instead of Captain and he didn't complain. A few days later, she introduced herself as Aphrodite. Her given name. The name she hadn't used in months.

Their conversation were simple and uninformative, because Steve didn't trust her with any information about his team, and she didn't blame him. But they talked about New York, about food, about weather. There was nothing else to do. Taylor just sat bored a few rooms away, out of earshot.

Aphrodite fed them, of course. She had no pleasure in watching people starve, get gaunt and unattractive. The villain preferred her men to be full and muscled. And blond. Maybe that's because the man she almost married that ran out on her wasn't blond…but she was letting her mind wander.

So when she knew she was going to leave, she led Taylor back to the cell with Steve and gave them a few days' rations. She informed them it would be enough for three days. It was fairly cold in her dungeon of sorts, but the men didn't seem to mind.

Aphrodite was already suited up, so her preparations were short. She had kept these two captive for around two weeks, and almost regretted leaving them behind. She bid them a short farewell, and was ready to face the battle ahead of her. Her escape was planned, her taunts scripted. If she could be any more ready, she would be.

* * *

Back at the tower, everyone had been panicked for weeks.

Without Steve it was like there was no order. No leader to guide them through the hard time of Steve being kidnapped. Taylor was gone too, but he left less of an impact. His impact was more in the slight more quiet manner of Hartlyn and Monet, Win went on very long motorcycle rides, searching with no success. Ricky sometimes commented that he didn't like being the only 'new guy'.

Natasha and Clint searched too, as they were the two that could go on physical searches with the most secrecy and accuracy. No clues surfaced.

Bruce and Tony took the lab approach. They weren't actually sure if the serum in the Captain's bloodstream would give them anything, but they tried anyway. That's what you do for a friend. Especially such a good friend like Steve.

The costumes were all made in between searching. Even Taylor's, because it helped give everyone hope.

Hartlyn started begging to help look for Taylor. Her costume seemed to make her want to help even more. But she was shot down every time.

Charlotte and Ricky never asked, but always wanted to. Win got in Tony's face at one point because she wanted to go help the agents look. Tony just smiled and denied her.

Two and a half long weeks passed. They drug in the metaphorical ground that days drag in. Resisting the Avengers attempts to make time speed up even the slightest bit.

Then Tony got a phone call.

It was Nick Fury, saying there was a bit of havoc in the town and could they please get their butts over there immediately?

Of course they could. They all suited up. Monet handed out communicators. She-Devil hopped on her motorcycle, and Pyro was right behind her. Hawkeye and Black Widow got in a small helicarrier, inviting Bruce and Pitch along. Iron Man flew while he carried Prodigy, and Rush, well, rushed. They met up when they heard the screaming coming from Central Park.

In the center of Central Park, a mob of twenty something year old men were clawing at people, punching them, bringing them down to the hard packed, almost frozen ground. Citizens were fleeing in all direction, only to be tackled and beaten by a crazed man.

"We need to restrain them, but not hurt them," Iron Man informed them all. "These guys look like normal people."

His response was a nod from the team around him. Rush was off, grabbing the nearest guy by the wrists and running back off with him, separating him from the crowd. Hawkeye leaned out the side of the carrier, his bow at the ready. The arrow shot smoothly through the air and hit the man square in the arm.

"Hawkeye! What did I say?!" Iron Man yelled at him.

Hawkeye grinned. "They're tranquilizers, calm down!"

Black Widow landed the aircraft and lithely hopped out. "What causing this?"

Iron Man zoomed above the park and found one person not caught in the brawl. His jaw just about dropped through his helmet. "Oh…woah."

"Is everything okay?" She-Devil yelled, finally getting off of her motorcycle. Iron Man nodded, then realized no one could see him, but couldn't make his mouth form the words that would explain what he was seeing.

"I will handle this," Pitch deftly climbed up a tall tree with no struggle. Balanced at the very top, she could see what Tony saw, yet with none of the side effects he was experiencing. "It's a girl."

But it wasn't just a girl. It was a woman. She had red hair streaked with gold that coiled and wove down to her slim waist. Beautifully pink eyes were gazing emotionlessly at the scene below her. The figure she was graced with was near perfect, and her skin flawless. Both of those things were complimented by her black and gold outfit. Also, she was halting Iron Man's advanced thought processes, it seemed.

"A very pretty girl, but she's just a girl sitting in a tree," Pitch informed them all. Rush was quickly at the base of her tree.

"Is it possible for any of us to get it closer?" Rush inquired.

"Well, I'm not affected, I think, but Tony is…" Pitch trailed off, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

Prodigy jumped up. "Only boys! She only affects boys, and that's why they're all swarming and fighting like they are. For her, like her own army!"

Black Widow sighed. "If we didn't recruit you all we would be in deep trouble right about now." It was true that Black Widow would have had to fight on her own in that case.

Iron Man was still just hovering, staring at the woman in the tree. He was currently useless.

"So what to we do? People are going to die if we just leave!" Hawkeye shouted in frustration.

Black Widow looked at him with contempt. "I suppose you and Pyro over there are going to have to work on restraining them, maybe Rush and Prodigy too. We don't need the Other Guy just yet, Bruce. Then Pitch, She-Devil, and I can go to whoever is in that tree. If we need backup I'll call for Rush."

The agent was very good at being the leader when she needed to be. Once she was done explaining she started running into the chaos, followed closely by Pitch and She-Devil.

Hawkeye turned just in time to see Bruce hiding in the helicarrier, probably for the best. "Alright, Pyro and Rush, you two are going to separate fighter from the crowd and I'll bring 'em down. Prodigy, carefully get me the tranqs back as we go or I'll run out very quickly. If we do it right, at least."

Prodigy waited for a moment, watching the black and green blur that was Rush grab and pull away someone while Pyro worked much, much slower than she did. But it wasn't the porr guy's fault. Then it was Hawkeyes turn, then Prodigy's. They were working in a sort of rhythm after not too long.

It was the other girls that had more trouble. When they were closer to the red haired woman in the tree it was obvious she wasn't someone who just escaped the fight. As they got closer, the three felt their moods improve, their emotions all feel lighter. Black Widow didn't feel it as much, and even She-Devil was strong, but Pitch had to work very hard to keep her happy mind focused on the task at hand.

The first gunshot rang out. Black Widow gun had been locked and loaded before anyone had even noticed. The bullet was lodged safely in the tree trunk as a warning shot. A smile slowly spread over the gorgeous woman's face. Very slowly, she stood in the fork of the tree that she had been sitting in. Her lips were pulled into a malicious smile by that point.

"My name is Hypno Heart. This is my army of citizens. You can't kill innocent civilians, now can you?" Hypno Heart's eyes widened in false innocence. "Even your genius, billionaire friend up there is too drawn to me to help you. You can feel it too, can't you?"

She-Devil wanted to scream at Black Widow to just shoot her and it would all be over. But when Black Widow spoke again, it was obvious why she wasn't ending the life of the villain in front of them. "Where are they?"

"Where are who, little spider? You're going to have to be a bit more specific." Hypno Heart taunted them, strutted up and down the tree branch, her heart shaped pupils focused on the famed Black Widow, who's mouth was set into a frustrated grimace.

"Where is Taylor and Steve, you wicked wench?" Black Widow tried again. Hypno Heart smiled.

"What a nasty name! Now why should I tell you, after you insulted me like that? I think not. Did you know that at any moment I could command the famous and powerful Iron Man to attack you. And he would do it, too. He's all caught up in my natural spell." Hypno Heart giggled, that false innocence written all over her face.

"Listen up, bitch!" She-Devils skin was quickly heating up and growing more luminescent by the second. "At any moment _I_ could burn down the stupid tree that you're high and mighty ass is on? Or I could just burn you and let the tree live another day! Because you don't deserve to keep talking!"

Hypno Heart smiled even wider. "But why ever not? I'm the only one who knows where your precious boy toys are. If I were you, I would want me to talk as much as possible."

The villains eyes locked onto something behind them. "What _are_ you doing to all of them?"

Back with Rush, Pyro, Hawkeye, and Prodigy, the ground was scattered with unconscious men, but there were still 60-100 fighting innocent women. Rush was starting to slow down. She was made for speed, not strength.

"I wish we had Taylor back," She moaned after delivering another man to the ground safely.

"We're…dispatching them." Black Widow said with a slight smirk. "Because we can't kill innocent civilians."

Hypno Heart opened her perfect red lips to shout something, but she was interrupted. "Pitch, now!" Black Widow yelled.

Those words were like magic. Everyone on the team except for Iron Man had their hands over their ears in the next instant. Pitch opened her mouth and let out all the frustration she felt with her predicament. The scream was louder and more high-pitched than it was even back at the Tower.

Hypno Heart was dazed and her ears were ringing. But the men hadn't stopped. "Get the ones in Spandex!" Hypno Heart shouted.

That did the trick. The men turned with zombie-like confusion for just a moment before running full speed at all the heroes. What few women could still run ran for their lives out of the park. Many lay bleeding or broken in some way, crying and sweating.

Rush managed to escape the ones after her. But her instinct took her too far, and she was around the block in just a few seconds. Another few seconds she just stood in confusion before quickly running back, where things were already falling apart.

Hawkeye was on top of the landed aircraft with his bow aiming precisely where it needed to. But his tranqs were all gone in under a minute. Then he had to resort to actual arrows, but arrows that landed in the arms or legs of the men, missing major veins and arteries so they were only wounded, never killed.

Pitch made her way up a tree until a few men tried to climb up after her. She got her face as close to their faces as she thought was safe and screamed once into their ears. But it didn't work. The one thing she had didn't work. A hand slashed out at her with tremendous force, and even though she was already going back up, three long nails gouged into her cheek, carving trails of blood. She shrieked, but it was from pain and in no way supersonic. Just scared.

She-Devil deflected them all without really trying. Just touching one with her emotion-heated hand made them fall, clutching the burned spot on their arm. It was probably only a second degree burn. But she took a second to breathe, and one got her from behind. Hands around her throat. Why wasn't he burning? She-Devil panicked and her hands wrapped around his. Gloves. It _was_ November, after all.

Pyro had her back on that one. A sizzle and a pop noise later, the man was on his knees, and Pyro was smiling triumphantly with a flame between his fingers. She-Devil fell to her knees, gasping for breath. He reached his arm out to help her up, but then thought better of it and ran of to do the same to another.

Black Widow was punching, chopping, kicking, anything to get the psychos off of her. It was working really well, too, and she was holding her own.

Back in the helicarrier, Bruce was asking Hawkeye, "Are you sure they're alright?"

"The combat's too close, Bruce! You'd crush all of them, even ours."

Prodigy was having the worst of it. She was too small and weak to properly fend them off, and not fast enough to outrun them. But she tried. It was a valiant effort. Her tiredness and the shock of the situation caught up to her, and she tripped over her own feet.

The men that had been chasing her were on her almost immediately. Claws couldn't tear through her strong outfit, but they could tear at her hair and mark up her face. A well placed kick knocked the air out of her lungs and a hand grabbed her by the neck and pulled, lifting her off the ground. Tears squeezed their way out of Prodigy's eyes and she tried to accept that this would be where it ended for her.

Strong hands were taking her away from them and for a moment she wondered if it was angels. But no. The hands were cold and red and the face she looked up into was a metal mask. Iron Man was back. He was flying her up up into the sky as she fought to regain her breath.

"Stay right here, Squirt. I'll be back to get you soon." Iron Man set her on top of the nearest building and promptly flew back down.

But the fighting had stopped. In fact, every man passed out right then and there, including IronMan. It seemed that only Hawkeye, Bruce, Ricky, and the girls were still on their feet.

The big dead tree was empty. Hypno Heart was gone. After a few minutes, the men would all wake up and everything would be fine. Or, at least, more fine than it was.

In a daze, the helicarrier picked up Hartlyn, Win and Ricky boarded the motorcycle, and Charlotte ran much slower than she usually did. They got back to the tower 15 minutes before Tony.

Physical and mental injuries were numerous. Clint, Tony, and Bruce were in mint condition. Natasha and Charlotte had a few various bruises and nicks, but it was nothing that needed medical attention.

Win was mostly okay, with long obviously finger shaped bruises on her throat, reminding her of how she was brought down and made weak in a way that she couldn't fix. There was nothing they had to fix that.

Ricky was bruised almost the entire length of both of his arms. A black eye made his right eye start to swell shut. Ice was quickly offered to him by Bruce for it.

Monet's face had been all but mutilated by the three long scratches that ran along the left side of her face. Blood had dripped over her outfit, on her neck, it stained all the she felt and saw. They were bad enough that Bruce had to carefully stitch them up, and do his best to stop infection that could very easily happen. Monet felt absolutely ugly. Not that she was terribly vain, but you wouldn't feel the greatest with half of a face either.

Hartlyn looked traumatized. Bruises blossomed over her arms, face, and legs under her uniform, where only she knew they were there. The largest bruise was on her torso where she had been kicked and suddenly felt like she was drowning. Little crescents decorated her face and neck, evidence of being stabbed with fingernails. After an quick examination, it was clear that the kick had broken two of her ribs, and that she didn't need any stitches. Just time.

After Hartlyn was wrapped up for her ribs and she had a few bandages on her face and neck, she curled up in bed. She wasn't drowning. There was air in her lungs. She could breathe just fine.

Ricky and Charlotte went off to their rooms with no hassle. They fell asleep without even waning to.

Win kept staring at her neck in the mirror, absently tracing the bruises left on her neck with feather light touches. The other little cuts and bruises were inconsequential, they didn't matter because they didn't make her feel as weak and helpless as these had.

Monet avoided the mirror as she brushed her teeth and washed her face. Whenever she saw the hideous stitches she looked away as quickly as possible. The pain itself made her want to cry. She curled up as well, just wading in her own misery.

* * *

Hypno Heart returned to her basement with almost no injuries.

Taylor was talking. He was saying something in a low, pained voice. A story about an orphan who finally found a good home miles away from his younger sister, the freak who abandoned his best friends to go to New York and ended up doing nothing.

It was a pitiful tale.

Steve was mumbling responses every now and again. Hypno Heart decided to go around them and talk to them later. She went to the basement of the building next door through a narrow tunnel underground.

Tonia was there, looking around with her hands on her hips. "Everything under control?" Aphrodite asked.

Tonia smiled. "Just wondering who gets the pleasure of joining me here. I'm hoping for Stark himself."

"Stark's too important, Tonia. It's more likely you'll get the 12 year old."

Tonia pulled a face. "That wouldn't be any fun at all." She flipped her hair like the classic cheerleader.

Aphrodite smiled back and turned to head back to her own section with her own prisoners. "No fun indeed."

**Ah! Long chapter!**

**Questions! Who do you think Tonia is taking? Will they escape? What is happening with Hypno Heart? How did I do the fight scene (I don't usually do fight scenes)? How do you think they did, especially your character? **

**Mythomagic-Champion: I want the motorcycle too, so here! Have a mind motorcycle! Then your mind you can ride around on it! I have one and it's awesome! And thank you very much!**

**Lorelee13: Thanks!**

**Munamuna: I hope you're alright with Taylor's not-huge involvement in this chapter, but it's a side effect of being locked up. I'm glad you appreciated the Brave scene, it was fun to write. **

**Storm229: Yes! I was hoping someone would recognize that! I have found a fellow Wicked fan! Yes! Thank you for reading and enjoying!**

**Until next time.**


	8. Chapter 8

The Tower was stressed.

Tony was in a state of self-hate. He let himself be pulled, fooled, and frozen by some idiot girl. Some idiot girl that he let vanish and hurt his friends. That killed him on the inside.

Not to mention the fear that gripped everyone living in the StarkTower. They already had Taylor and Steve, and they weren't giving them back yet. No one knew where they were being held or what the kidnappers wanted or if they were going to be next.

After a few days of healing Clint was fed up with the somber air. So he started making cookies.

He was mixing up the dough by hand. Sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla, chocolate chips. A serious looking Monet wandered in, the stitches on her face sticking out from the rest of her smooth skin.

"What are you doing?" She asked with an air of incredulity. Clint gave her a look of, 'what do you think I'm doing, silly girl' and went back to mixing. Monet sighed. "Well, do you need any help?"

Clint wordlessly passed her the spoon and walked over to the oven. That's how their baking went for a long time. Silent, with Clint only motioning what he needed. But Monet seemed to understand it fine.

Once the cookies were made, the gooey chocolate delights were quickly stuffed into their faces with joy. It seemed like nothing could taste more delicious than those cookies did. When the cookies were gone, only minutes later, they went over to the large couch. Brave was turned on, and a smile spread quickly over Monet's face when she remembered why Taylor said that Clint liked that movie so much.

She was surprised when she realized that was the first genuine smile she had smiled since her stitches.

The lab was almost as quiet, but much more productive.

Win was sitting next to Tony. He was working on something extremely complicated and was explaining it to Win as he went. Even though the Hispanic teen didn't understand half of the words streaming from the billionaires mouth, she was still smiling and watching his capable hands. It was like he didn't even have to think about what he was doing before he did it. The android arm was just coming together at his fingertips.

Over on the other side of the lab was Ricky and Bruce. While Tony was inventing some robot, Bruce had been getting into medicine. His research was extensive and his knowledge of the topic was rapidly expanding. Genetics were already a strong point of his, so this was getting easier and easier.

It was a burn cream was Ricky to have somewhere in his uniform. Probably in the shoe so the villains wouldn't see that solution for their third degree burns right in front of them. The cream would be strictly for team members. First, they had to get it right. Which involved lots of Ricky making fire and Bruce figuring out how different they were from regular flames. Also taking samples of his DNA, skin cells and cheek swabs, to figure out what it was that made him different.

After battling Hypno Heart, burn victims realized conventional burn creams didn't make any difference to the burns Ricky had left on them. Just time, water, and possibly skin grafts when they when bad enough. So this was clearly a necessity. Even though that's not how Win's sparks and heat worked. For some reason. That's why Win was in the lab, so they could compare their DNA and look carefully to find any kind of DNA malfunction.

Charlotte was in the mirrored room with Natasha. Natasha was teaching her the basics of close range fighting, something Charlotte had never really had to learn. For her it was always flight over fight, while Natasha had always fought. It was one of the most important skills she could feasibly learn.

Hartlyn was alone. The poor girl had locked herself in her room. Her body was still battered and bruised and she wanted more than anything to go home. Home was always safe and warm, and the only thing she had to worry about was her homework and how she was still so short.

To get as close to the feeling of home as she could, Hartlyn curled into herself on her bed and closed her eyes to try and only feel the warm and safe feeling of in bed.

That's when something big changed everything. Rain was battering on the window and every now and then a bolt of lightning or a roll of thunder would distract someone from what they were doing.

A thud on the roof seemed to connect everything for the original Avengers. They all gathered on the roof within the next few minutes.

"Hey big guy," Tony greeted happily. "It's been a long time!"

Thor grinned his toothy grin, his long hair catching the wind. "Near one Midgardian year, correct?"

"Yeah, somewhere around there," Tony confirmed. About a year and half, but he was pretty close for being millions of miles away.

"Why the sudden reappearance Thor?" Natasha asked. Thor looked at her like she was an ignorant child.

"My brothers in arms needed me to return. So I come to them." He told them all.

"Bit late for that," Clint muttered. He forgot that Thor was a god and could hear quiet things.

"What do you mean, Hawk?"

Bruce started to explain but ended up trailing off when he realized he had no idea how to tell Thor about the new recruits. It turns out he didn't need to explain. Because just as he was faltering, there was a flash or chocolate brown hair and striking blue eyes. Charlotte all but materialized next to them.

"You have taken in a ward?" Thor asked questioningly. Charlotte looked confused for all of 10 seconds before realization dawned on her.

"This is Thor? The Norse 'God of Thunder' Thor?" Charlotte asked with awe in her voice. The God in question smiled warmly at her. He opened his mouth to say something else until someone else joined them.

Win's hand was in her short dark hair, pulling out the tangles that had managed their way in with a frustrated look. "You could have waited up, Charlotte! Just cause you're the feminine Flash doesn't mean you have to leave everyone else in the dust! Some people need…hello." Her rant stopped abruptly when she saw a tower blond man with a large hammer in his hand. She got it almost immediately. "Thor, right?"

"Yes…" Thor trailed off. "Friends, who are these people? Where is the Captain?"

"Like Clint said, you were a little bit late Thor." Natasha said slowly, darkly. "We fought some villain named Hypno Heart and her army of civilians. But before we fought her, she took Steve and one of our other new recruits."

"I am very sorry, friends." Thor said sincerely. He turned to Win and Charlotte. "And to you as well."

"It's alright Thor, it's good to have you back." Tony clapped the god on the back. "I think we have another empty room for you to stay in."

They all slowly filed back inside. Tony had an extra room on the same floor that the kids were all staying on. It quickly turned into Thor's room, even if the prince was used to grander space in Asgard.

Night quickly fell and Thor was sitting wide awake in his room. For some reason he couldn't shut his brain off. So he just sat there, listening to the oddly loud noises of the night. Something quieter and higher caught his attention.

Wanting to find the source, he went to listen around the floor. He stopped outside of Hartlyn's room, the only person he hadn't met yet. When he cracked open the door, he felt his kind heart fracture.

A little girl with white blonde hair was curled into herself, sobs racking her body, ripping through her throat. Little spots of dried blood and bruises were slowly healing. When Thor had heard about Hartlyn, the girl who was hiding from everyone, he expected an emotionally conflicted teenager. Not this.

The god went quickly over to sit next to Hartlyn. His huge hand found her way to her small back, almost covering it. Hartlyn looked up at him with her light blue eyes, meeting his eyes that were almost the same shade, then looked back down. Her sobs only intensified.

Thor stayed by her, moving his hands in small circles, the entire time she cried. A few hours must have passed until her tears ducts ran dry and her body was still. Her eyes were closed lightly and her breathing finally evened out. Then, and only then, did Thor fall asleep himself. He didn't even go to his own room first.

That would have been an adorable scene in the morning if there wasn't a ton of worry.

Natasha was very crabby, as she had gotten up to early for her liking. She went to get breakfast, but no one was making any yet.

"Clint! Clint, I'm hungry!" She groaned, the way Clint was always used to her doing when she was tired. There was no scathing tried retort. "Clint?"

Natasha opened the door wide open to shoot a glare at her friend. To her horror, there was a messed up bedspread and specks of blood on his floor. Clint was gone.

The morning turned into a flurry of panic and searching. It was clear who else was taken fairly early on. Monet was always up at 5 in the morning, so her absence was suspicious,

What were they all being taken for?

…

"Why are you doing this?" Clint screamed in Tonia's face.

Tonia's face split into a wicked smile. "It isn't about why I'm doing it, Hawkeye. It's about why she told me to do it, isn't it? You'll be fun to silence, won't you Hawkeye? What would your girlfriend do if she found me here with you? I bet I would have something great in store for me. To bad I could beat her up any day."

Clint started to sputter some unintelligible response, but Tonia turned to the Southern Belle in the corner.

"What's wrong with your _face_, sweetheart? It looks like someone took a few razor blades to your pretty mug, or maybe you pissed off Wolverine…" Tonia trailed off with a bit of sugar and sweetness at the end. Monet felt tears well up in her eyes, she didn't need to be reminded.

Tonia stalked over to directly in front of Monet, leaving Clint to her left. "Those stitches will have to come out some time, and I could do that for you, maybe. What do you think of that?" Clint sidestepped, blocking the villains view.

"Leave her alone, bitch," Clint spat.

Tonia's grin only grew. "No wonder why she wanted you two together. More than a little bit protective, aren't we?"

Once again Clint failed to form a coherent response. The cheerleader-esque girl in front of him shrunk into a lean blonde colored cat that slunk away.

Aphrodite was talking not just to Steve at that point. Taylor had joined in, but he was much quieter than Steve was being. While they still didn't discuss the team, they somehow found plenty to talk about. Taylor was an interesting kid, though he had a tendency to stick his foot in his mouth on accident.

Steve was still the one she preferred to hear the life story of, he had so much more to say.

Aphrodite wasn't entirely comfortable with what was happening to her, and suppressed as much as she could. These were her _captives_. No feelings. No friendship. Just lust. Just glory.

**There it is! Chapter 8, the start of Tonia's reign. Who expected Clint and Monet to be taken? No one? Well then. How do you feel about Tonia so far? Are you okay with who your character is starting to trust/care about?**

**Win and Charlotte got to have meetings with Thor when he showed up to thank their creators for consistently reviewing, and I tried to bring in Taylor to thank his creator. **

**Here's a weird question, but it's important and I really really need the answer. Think about your your character. What would they sacrifice for someone they care about?**

**Storm229- Thank you! Fight scenes were never really my forte. Also, about Charlotte training, I tried to put that in here a little bit.**

**Munamuna- Reverse Stockholm Syndrome is quite possibly the best description! That's fantastic! I almost sent in Natasha and Charlotte actually, so you were very good at guessing. Thank you as always.**

**Mythomagic-Champion- Thanks! **


	9. Chapter 9

Tonia was having far too much fun. She was wearing her self-made costume, and was surrounded by her favorite things. Big cats.

The silky creatures were all purring and circling around her. Their tails brushed gently against her exposed stomach and legs. The dark gray material of her 'suit', if you could call it that, was form fitting. The neckline plunged to the perfect place to show off her chest, and the fabric only went to a few inches below it, and sleeves went down to her wrists but never touched her shoulders. A short black skirt went just to her mid-thighs and black boots went almost to her knees. It was perfect.

Her blonde hair was up in a sexy style, letting her face be unbothered by the strands. Tonia's hands were stretched downwards. Long fingers met the backs of the cats, feeling the differences in their coats.

Tiger, lions, panthers, ocelots, jaguars, cheetahs and snow leopards. The smallest, a juvenile ocelot, was wrapped around her shoulders and purred contentedly. Tonia had named this one, as much as she disliked giving cats human names. Because she wanted to distinguish this one from the rest, she called him Zuriel. Tonia didn't know what it meant, or if it was even actually a name, but it seemed to fit him somehow.

She had given Tonia this place to rest away from her captives and hang out with the cats she had found. Tonia was already forever in her debt, as she had been given this great opportunity to prove herself.

Not even Hypno Heart, who still hadn't revealed her actual name, knew about this place. It was here that she planned, that she plotted her meeting with the heroes who didn't even manage to land a scratch on Hypno Heart.

Tonia unwillingly let out a happy giggle.

* * *

"How are you guys not dead from boredom by now?" Aphrodite asked Steve and Taylor one day. She was met with two smiles. The guys were finally starting to trust here being around them. That's what happens when you talk to two people exclusively for around 3 weeks. 3 weeks of captivity, and they both seemed very healthy.

Steve was the one who answered her, the way he usually was. "Lots of 20 questions, rock paper scissors, sleeping. Not the most mentally stimulating things, but they can keep the boredom away."

Aphrodite sighed, closer to a groan, and responded. "That doesn't sound like fun! I'm bored!"

"Can't you leave?" Taylor asked. Aphrodite paused. She hadn't told them about how she attacked the city and escaped from the Avengers. She wanted to be trusted.

"I could, but I don't have anything to do out there. No money, no anything really. I only even have one outfit," Aphrodite confessed. All of that was true, but the real reason was she would be arrested. Her nervous energy went straight to her hands that ran her fingers through her too-long curls and braided them tightly.

"Too bad," Steve commented before he quickly changed the subject. "Ever think about cutting your hair? Even just a foot or so?"

Aphrodite looked at him like he suggested she cut off her arm. "Or not then. It was just a suggestion."

As they progressed their conversation, Aphrodite tried not to think about what would happen to these two in the end.

If Steve liked that her hair went from waist length to just above her elbows overnight, he only smiled to show it.

* * *

Win was on her motorcycle, practically lying down. Night air rushed around her, freezing cold in late November. Her red helmet squeezed her head tightly and she felt very alone.

Ricky wasn't with her for once. For once she wasn't doing something that Ricky begged to be dragged along for. She thought it would be nice, but Win missed the steady stream of words behind her.

Win wasn't going anywhere in particular. She was just riding around. It was just to blow off steam, to let her feel like she was doing something even mildly useful. She wasn't, of course, but moving around helped.

When she returned to StarkTower, everything she saw amused her even more. Most likely because almost everyone was asleep at that point.

Ricky was upside down on the couch, his flame colored hair flattened against the floor. The TV was playing Dora the Explorer or Go Diego or something like that. His warm eyes were closed lightly and soft snores passed through his partially opened mouth.

But on the armchair next to him was Charlotte, relaxed but still upright. Her bright cerulean eyes were still open and watching the animated program with minimal interest. She turned to lock eyes with Win.

"Believe it or not, there's nothing better on." Win did not believe that, but she let Charlotte watch the show in peace. She moved on, aimlessly walking around the tower.

Win was soon on the floor her bedroom was on, and she decided early on there wasn't anything that would really hold her interest. But just before she turned to go back into the elevator, something caught her eye.

It was a mass of blond. Thor sat on a chair, his head leaning back and his mouth wide open. Snores ripped through his throat and Win was surprised they didn't wake the other sleeping person. A small, curled figure covered by long almost white hair. Hartlyn had fallen asleep on Thor's lap and it was absolutely adorable, but never really one for sentiment, Win turned back to the elevator and went up a few floors at random.

She ended up at the lab by a coincidence. For a moment she was worried she didn't have clearance, but JARVIS let her in with no question.

With no reason for doing anything in the huge lab, Win entered and looked around. The walls were all super-reinforced glass after the first wall, allowing her to see the complexity of the place Tony had built. Her already high respect for the man skyrocketed with what she saw. Odd machines and test tubes filled with liquid that she didn't even want to know more about, and rooms after rooms after rooms.

Bruce was working a few rooms away and Win carefully found the openings that would lead her to him.

"Good evening, Win," he said pleasantly. Win gave him a nod in response. She watched his hands as he went back and forth between tinkering with test tubes and looking at data on a touch screen that he was constantly moving around a replacing.

Win finally asked, "Where's Tony?"

The smile that spread across Bruce's face made him look years younger. A playful finger was outstretched to his left. Win followed it to find someone with their head on the counter, their dark hair sticking up in all directions.

"Tony…" Win chuckled. The genius didn't even stir. Win let out another short chuckle.

"Not going to sleep tonight?" Win asked Bruce politely. Bruce shook his head with a small smile.

His voice was low and sad. "It's hard to sleep now. For most of us. You should at least try, but if anything…comes up…you're always welcome back in here."

Win nodded to show that she heard him and then walked out of the lab, making sure she knew exactly where the openings were before she tried to go through them, not wanting to crash into glass. She wouldn't break the glass. It would just hurt.

On their floor, Win found Charlotte leaning against a door. If Win remembered right, it was the door to Taylors room, the one that was now empty. Charlotte was sort of staring into space.

"Do you think they're ever coming back?" Charlotte asked softly.

Win sighed. "I don't know. But I hope they aren't dead, or we're hunting the pretty bitch down. I mean it. Go to sleep Charlotte."

"I don't know if I can…" Charlotte trailed off in a brokenly desperate sort of way. "What if they take me next? What if I have to see Monet, and Clint, and Steve, and _Taylor_ beat up or dead? What if they kill me next? What then, Win?"

Win wasn't entirely sure how to answer. But she let her mouth run on autopilot and it shot out, "Then you take it one step at a time and we find you, hopefully before anything too bad happens."

Charlotte nodded absently. She shuffled to her own room and disappeared into it.

Win just took a deep breath and got ready to face the choking nightmares, the ones where Ricky was too busy to save her.

* * *

**Very short, very fillerish. Sorry. I'm thinking battle time with Tonia next chapter! Should be fun.**

**Do you like the new cover? Anyone feel like playing match the villain to their eye? I know the third one hasn't really been in this much yet, but she will be soon. **

**Questions! What does your character have nightmares about? What is Tonia's play? What in the world are Steve and Taylor doing trusting Aphrodite? Who should I focus on more next chapter?**

**Responses to the loyal three!**

**Storm229- Thanks, I hope I did her alright this chapter. Top 5? In no particular order, No one mourns the wicked, Defying Gravity, For Good, No Good Deed, Dancing Through Life.**

**Munamuna- I know! Maybe Aphrodite will find a board game or something like that. Thanks!**

**Mythomagic-Champion- Mmmm…hot guys who make cookies…thank you!**


	10. Chapter 10

Normally when the Avengers get a call to save the world or city, whatever it is that day, it's because a person is wreaking havoc and thirsty for American blood. Or maybe a small group of people. But 2 years of having this job, they had never gotten a call quite like this one.

Cats. Cats everywhere.

Climbing up whatever they could, ripping apart the city with their extended claws and huge teeth. Not housecats, either. Jungle cats capable of killing a man. They were chasing people through the streets of New York. If it weren't for the fact that there was great shopping and also that odd villains had been circulating all over the country, New York would be a ghost town. No one would be willing to stay.

The remaining 8 Avengers got suited up and ready for battle. She-Devil and Pyro hopped onto the She-Devil-mobile and Rush kept up with them the whole way. The helicopter had to be used again to take Black Widow, Prodigy, and Bruce. Thor and Iron Man flew.

There wasn't really just one place to meet up and fight. The cats were everywhere, swarming the streets and even a few buildings. So they all had to work mostly on their own, the communicators being the only thing they had to work together.

"Isn't this animal cruelty?" Black Widow asked as they started to figure out individual plans.

"Don't kill the cats then!" Iron Man yelled. "Just injure them enough that they don't keep attacking us."

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of big cats ran amok past and towards the Avengers on the ground. She-Devil stayed on her motorcycle with Pyro on the back. Pyro's legs tightly wrapped around the sleek vehicle and kept him on while his hands were outstretched, brushing against the legs of any cat he could reach. Tigers, lions, and jaguars fell as their legs were burned. Not gravely injured, but they couldn't run for quite some time.

Rush found herself running around, sweeping the legs of any cat she came to. The only problem arose when a cheetah didn't want to be temporarily felled and tried to jump onto her. She poured on the speed and managed to outrun the cheetah before getting back to her leg sweeping that wasn't actually doing very much for anyone.

Thor and Iron Man were having possibly the most fun. They would go down to the streets, pick up any cat they found, and take them onto roofs that had ledges so the cats wouldn't just walk off. Iron Man was having a grand old time, and Thor was booming with laughter every now and again.

Black Widow was observing and giving instructions whenever she need to. Just things like a lion approaching Rush or Pyro needing to stretch more.

Black Widow ended up dropping Bruce and Prodigy off on the ground. Prodigy found a man staring at the approaching cats on a stopped motorcycle. With her sweet little girl charm, she convinced him to give Bruce the bike so they could help out.

Bruce and Prodigy fell into the same pattern as She-Devil and Pyro, with Prodigy stretching out electric charged hands. She was careful to use just enough electricity to knock out the big cats for a few hours.

Black Widow yelled at Rush to go into the shop she was about the pass. When Rush went inside she found a weapon store.

"Pick up a dagger or two so you can disable their feet. Don't take them off, just spill a little bit of blood," Black Widow commanded. Rush nodded and quickly armed herself.

Iron Man found a littler cat, spotted and cute. An ocelot. He picked it up and dropped it off all the same.

The next cat he picked up was lithe and blonde, sort of like a lioness and sort of like a jaguar, but he didn't recognize it for sure. He thought it was odd, but he went to put it on the pile anyway. As they ascended, he suddenly wasn't holding a cat anymore.

Instead in his arms was a young woman who was practically naked if it wasn't for the small costume she wore. Long blonde hair matched the cats fur exactly and her silvery blue eyes were the same color. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

Iron Man knew this woman disguised herself as a cat and he knew that this was the person who caused this mess. So he dropped her, easy as that.

But cats always land on their feet. After the 50 foot fall, she landed gracefully on all fours. A smile all arrogant cheerleader was sent his way and the woman ran off very quickly, but not half the speed of Rush.

"Widow, do you see the hot blonde girl not wearing clothes?" Iron Man shouted into his communicator.

"Tony, now is not the time to ogle!" She-Devil exclaimed as she took a sharp turn, dismayed that the billionaire could even think about girls at a time like this.

"No, she's the bad guy. Rush, do you copy?"

Rush nervously bit her lip quickly before responding. "Yeah, I copy. What do you want me to do?"

The team could almost hear him rolling his eyes. "Take her out. You've got the knives. Uh…Winnie, you might want to get over there too."

She-Devil ground her teeth and started to search for the black and green flash that would indicate her friend. "Call me that again, I dare you."

Iron Man hesitated before answering. "…maybe not now."

"Good choice."

Rush had found the scantily clad blonde woman. Perusing her was almost boring, she was going too slowly to be a challenge for Rush. Rush couldn't figure out where she was heading, but it was a surprise when she ran straight for the speeding motorcycle that Bruce was driving.

Bruce swerved as quickly as possible and Prodigy screamed. With a wicked smile, the woman grabbed Prodigy by the back of her costume and started running.

"Hartlyn!" Bruce yelled. Prodigy just shrieked with pain and terror. Being manhandled brought back too many flashbacks that she tried to shut her eyes against.

Thor paused just before he grabbed a tiger, "What had happened?"

"They got the Squirt," Iron Man informed him shortly before heading in the general direction he believed Prodigy to be. Thor was faster than him, and looked much angrier than Iron Man did behind the mask.

"Keep taking out the cats," Black Widow directed. "Devil, Pyro, Bruce. Rush, you too."

As much as Rush wanted to help retrieve the smallest member, she listened to the older woman and went back to dispatching felines.

Iron Man found the woman but Prodigy was nowhere in sight. "Who are you? Where have you taken her?"

The blonde woman grinned and shouted back. "I am Feline, and to tell you that would ruin all of the fun!" And she was off again.

Iron Man reported to the others that the villain was called Feline and that he was on her tail.

A short, high pitched cry made him stop and look around. It was Prodigy's scream, and he started to go towards it until he saw Thor and Rush going that way. When he turned to find Feline and go after her, she was gone.

"She's gone," He said shocked.

The fight was over. The cats just aimlessly meandered the streets, no longer thirsting for blood. Now it was time for the city to return the cats to the zoos, and other places they were taken from. The cold December air was starting the chill them all to the bones and they needed to find the little girl as fast as they could.

Rush and Thor found her on the first floor of a building with a large tiger right next to her, getting closer every second. The little genius's face was blocked to them by the large beast.

"I shall slay him!" Thor boomed, hammer in hand and he quickly advanced.

"No!" shouted a sweet voice. Hartlyn popped up and laid a hand on the head of the tiger. "Don't hurt her!"

"What?" Rush asked incredulously.

Hartlyn smiled widely. "I named her Sweetie! Cause she's so sweet!"

Charlotte looked confusedly over at Thor was matched her expression. Hartlyn didn't seem to get why they were so lost. "She can be like my guard dog…cat. My guard cat. To protect me from all the monsters. I mean, I know there aren't really monsters but if there were they wouldn't get past Sweetie!"

Charlotte was trying her hardest to catch up. "You want to keep the tiger as a pet?"

Hartlyn nodded enthusiastically. "We can keep her in the tower! Tony always said he wanted a dog! And Sweetie is way cooler than a dog!"

In the end, Hartlyn got to keep the massive tiger. It was as tall, if not taller, than Hartlyn herself, and it looked terrifying. But it seemed to love her. Sweetie actually let Hartlyn ride her back to the tower.

In other words, this fight ended better for Hartlyn than the last one did.

"Who is it you're working for anyway? What are they planning?" Steve asked insistently as Aphrodite smiled slightly.

"I obviously can't tell you that, Steve. Just know that you are safer here than you would be at home. Your team might need you, but they need you safe. Also, I don't have clearance to free you yet." Aphrodite was spilling everything to him. She couldn't help it. The honest, innocent look in his eyes made her want to answer him truthfully. So she did.

"That sucks!" Steve shouted, actual anger starting to color his voice.

Aphrodite quickly shot a finger to her lips. "Steve! Hush up! You don't want anyone else to know anything about this okay? Also, you're gonna wake up Taylor."

Taylor was currently asleep on the ground, curled up in a very non-manly way. Steve smiled down at him almost like a father would. He took a deep breath. "He's a good kid," Steve said wistfully.

"You're a good guy," Aphrodite told him without having to think it over first. It was just a fact. An idea sparked in her head and she got up.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked sadly as she walked away. Aphrodite turned to talk over her shoulder.

"To get a board game or something. Monopoly sounds like heaven right now."

Clint and Monet were having a much worse time. Monet's stitches had to come out, and soon. Preferably while Feline was out so they wouldn't be forcefully ripped from her face.

Clint found the tiny knot and was using his fingernails to pick it apart. It hurt more than Monet expected and a tiny tear leaked out of her eye. Clint swore and kept apologizing under his breath.

"Got it!" He deftly took out the medical string, relieved that the wound didn't break open again because he couldn't undo what he just did. It was definitely healing, but they would leave nasty scars for the rest of her life.

"Thank you," Monet told him with a sob just barely hidden behind the words. "Thank you so much."

Now she could at least pretend she looked like she used to, with pretty, tanned, blemish free skin. The stitches pulling on her as a constant reminder was eating her form the inside out.

Feline hadn't returned yet. If she did, she would have shouted something scathing and taunting and threatened to mess up Monet or Natasha to rile up Clint. It's just what she did.

The person that entered was shorter, with dark brown hair streaked with red. Her eyes made Clint shiver. They were a bright, almost Tesseract, shade of blue. Her suit definitely covered more than Feline's. It was similar to Natasha's with red accents and fingerless black gloves. Her red and black nails flashed in the dying light.

"Sorry. Not my room. My name is Death by the way. I've heard a lot about you. It would have been fun to see Feline rip those out of your pretty face, too bad you took care of it yourself." With that, she left.

Monet and Clint shared a glance of fear, wondering who this next psychopath was.

**Okay! Fun times tom be had by all! Sorry about the very little action, it was just a lot of making cats fall down. But I didn't really see Feline as the type to get her hands dirty. **

**Also, Hartlyn got a cat because I wanted her to have one. That is the only reason. **

**The eyes on the cover picture are, from top to bottom, Feline, Death, and (obviously) Hypno Heart. **

**Question time! Now that Death had come into the picture briefly, who do you think will be captured next? Where will Aphrodite be in the final battle? Who is your current favorite villain and your current favorite hero? Anything you want to see in the next few chapters?**

**Responses!**

**Munamuna: I mentioned Monopoly just for you! And thanks for not caring that there are fillers, I seemed to write a lot of those. Thanks as always.**

**TheOnlyEv: Here is your update, friend! Any chance you could update yours soon? Please? I want to see Luna awkwardly meeting new people.**

**Mythomagic-Champion: I like Win quite a lot and try to write about her often. Thanks for the review!**

**Storm229: You have wonderful taste in music. I'm not gonna tell you, it's gonna be a surprise! Thanks as usual! **


	11. Chapter 11

Death wasn't presented a challenge. She didn't expect one, but she'd been hoping for something resembling one.

But here they were, two esteemed members of the Avengers, in her cage. Her eyes had brought them down. Not even Black Widow landed a punch on her. Of course, only two people saw her, but all the same she wanted something to make her work for it.

One girl was leaning back on the wall away from the bars, her blue eyes shut tightly. Her brown hair was slicked with sweat from pain and fear. Also the blood from where her head cracked against the merciless floor.

The other woman didn't look near as submissive. She didn't close her eyes. She didn't flick the damp strands of hair away from her face. She didn't stop glaring at Death.

Black Widow was always going to be the fun one to break. But Rush wasn't even trying. It took away all of the fun.

After a long, tense staring contest with Black Widow, Death clicked on her power and then walked away. The strong woman didn't scream when she hit the floor, but even she couldn't stop the writhing.

When Death was gone, Charlotte opened her eyes and flashed over to Natasha's side.

"Are you okay? Please be okay." Charlotte begged quietly.

A small smile flashed over the red heads lips. "I'll be alright, Rush. It's okay."

Charlotte sat back and sighed with relief. She knew if Natasha left her now there would be no way to get through this. No way in hell.

A door creaked open. "Death?" A high pitched, slightly alluring, voice called. When no one responded, a head poked into the room.

The two girls recognized that head. Long red, gold streaked curls, pink irises, and perfect skin tone. It was Hypno Heart, who had hypnotized hundreds of men to attack helpless women. The one that had taunted the Avengers because they couldn't hurt their own people.

"You," Charlotte finally went right up to the bars to glare, no longer in danger of paralyzing pain. "You!"

"Shh!" Hypno Heart scolded. She continued in a soft whisper. "That's Black Widow, and you are…?"

"Rush," Charlotte told her, suspicion very clear on her face.

Hypno Heart smiled such a genuine smile it scared the two behind bars. "Charlotte. Thank you for telling me. Maybe, if I have more time later, I'll explain a few things. But for now I have to run!"

Charlotte looked over at Natasha with confusion in her eyes. Natasha had no answer.

Aphrodite practically skipped back to her boys. "I figured out who they brought in next!"

Steve and Taylor both perked up. "The next two?"

"Well…" Aphrodite said unhappily. "The next four. And you're not going to like it."

"Tell us anyway!" Taylor demanded.

"They have Monet and Clint in one room, and in the next room they have Natasha and Charlotte." Aphrodite said quietly, knowing they wouldn't like that information. They didn't. Steve held his head in his hands and Taylor turned to punch the wall just soft enough that he didn't break his hand.

"They had to take them, didn't they?" Steve asked himself.

Aphrodite was intrigued. "What do you mean, them? Wouldn't anyone be just as bad?"

"Natasha is the closest the team has to a second-in-command, behind me according the rest of them. Without her, Clint would be the other won good with battle tactics, and they're both gone. Charlotte and Monet were both quiet but they held people together. Now…now they really are more like a time bomb." Steve's head lifted only minimally to tell her that.

"Who's left?" Taylor asked before answering his own question. "Tony, Bruce, Win, Hartlyn, and Ricky. Oh God."

Aphrodite jumped in. "Another one appeared recently. The one with the hammer."

Steve grinned, his entire face lighting up with real happiness. "Thor's here? Perfect! That's perfect!"

Taylor looked mildly confused and turned back to the game board set up in the middle of the holding cell. He picked up the two dice sitting by it and then moved a little silver car 11 spaces, passing the dog and the horse. When he stopped moving he tipped his head back and groaned. "I'm going to jail!"

Hartlyn was petting the black and orange striped beast that sat at her feet. Thor sat next to her, watching in amazement as this small mortal child was so comfortable being so near such a fierce creature. She called it Sweetheart, for Odin's sake.

Tony had taken it in stride that there was suddenly a tiger in his house. He was very nice and allowed Sweetheart lodgings. But Sweetheart still didn't like him. Sweetheart hated Tony. The only people Sweetheart liked were Hartlyn and Thor. No one knew why, but that was it.

Win was tucked away in the lab with Ricky and Bruce right next to her. Bruce was leaning over a microscope and Ricky was watching him with curiosity. Win just welcomed the quiet. It was something she had begun to treasure years ago and even now in the glass laboratory with two friends near her.

Even though their numbers had been decimated, the remaining Avengers were fairly content. The searches hadn't stopped, and neither had their hope, but that night they were content to just be and worry quietly.

Death was watching them silently. Her unearthly blue eyes stared uncaringly at the cute scenes laid out in front of her.

Behind her, on the next building, a very light thump could be heard. Death whipped her head around. She smiled. "Good evening."

"And to you as well, Scarlett." The lilting voice responded. It was prettily high pitched, undoubtedly feminine, with an accent that Death couldn't ever quite place. She turned to meet Her green eyes.

"I'm just planning. I should be ready to strike in a day or two," Death told her. A smile spread across Her face.

"Perfect. I have high hopes for you Scarlett. More then Aphrodite, who put on quite the show, and far more than Tonia, who caused hardly enough to be called chaos. But you, Scarlett, Death, I have very high hopes for your performance. I hope you don't let me down," She whispered cunningly, suddenly right behind the dark haired teenager.

"I won't disappoint you," Death said. The tall woman grinned and flicked her wrists. In a flash of green and gold, she was gone.

**I am SO sorry about the wait, and that it's shorter. I just wasn't inspired and I couldn't force this out. I'm so sorry.**

**Questions. Any more ideas about who the final boss of sorts is? What you think about Death? Aphrodite? What do you think Death's going to do? How do I make the next chapter interesting for you?**

**Responses-**

**TheOnlyOneEv- Don't worry, I'll keep that Death out of it. Also Thanos doesn't get to be in this story. **

**Munamuna- Yes, Aphrodite is Hypno Heart. Taylors clones will come in at some point, I promise.**

**Storm229- I feel like I let you down with my slow update now! Thank you as usual. **

**Mythomagic-Champion- You got Natasha right! And yes, they love the tiger. I'm still trying to work out Aphrodite and everything. **

**ElCaliente- Thank you! **


	12. Chapter 12

Red and gold whirred and clicked around Tony and the suit started to cover him as he watched people in the streets below, just walking around. When the last piece fell into place, he looked around at all his friends, young and old.

Hartlyn was pulling on her golden gloves, covering up the fading bruises. Sweetheart lay next to her, amber eyes alert and watchful, guarding the child. Next to her Ricky was pulling on his own and putting little packages of his special burn cream in the compartment inside his pant leg.

Win already had her catsuit and leather jacket on, just waiting for everyone else.

"Come along, Hartlyn," Thor boomed. "You are traveling with me."

"What about Sweetheart?" Hartlyn asked, starting to panic. Win swept in behind her, tightening her long ponytail and then brushing her long black bangs out of her own face. While she did that, Bruce finally entered the room.

"I'll take Sweetheart. We'll be getting there a bit later then the rest of you." Bruce assured her. Hartlyn nodded, reaching up to straighten Bruce's collar before turning back to Thor.

"Okay. Let's go." Thor lifted her and walked out onto the balcony, nodding once to Iron Man before lifting off and starting to search for the warehouse he was instructed to go to. The warehouse that this whole mess was started at.

That morning, it was an interesting news report. No one had found out yet that half of the Avengers were gone, and so the news reporters seemed very confident that their heroes could save them from these going-ons.

In an abandoned warehouse just off downtown New York City, something was lurking. The only way anyone knew this is that people were dropping like flies whenever they walked by it. This had been happening for two days, and word had finally reached the Avengers.

Inside the large open building, a young woman sat cross legged on the floor. Her red and black fingernails tapped the stone floor in a quick rhythm. Bright blue eyes swept through the darkness, watching, waiting, knowing they were coming for her. With a smile, Scarlett tied her dark brown hair into a high ponytail, leaving the two front red streaks down the frame her pale face. Where were those heroes?

The first hero arrived long after Death had gotten bored. It was the blond one, the God. Death grinned widely, turning to look him square in the eyes.

Thor yelped like a little girl and hit the floor. Death's smile widened to the point that her white teeth flashed in the dim light. Another high scream was under Thor's, and Death craned her neck to see another small blonde head, probably a child.

"I see you've finally made it to the party," Death remarked. "And you brought me a snack."

The little blonde head whimpered and tried to wiggle its way out from under the huge man with no success. Reluctantly, Death got up from where she sat and stretched out her arms. "Well come on! You're a God! Give me a challenge!"

She sounded like Thor once did, seeking out war and pain, demanding glory. He lifted himself up on his arms, more for Prodigy than for himself. A groan escaped him as his seizing muscles protested the movement. Prodigy crawled out from under him and looked at him, trying to figure out what caused him so much pain. There was no bruise, no blood, nothing looked broken.

"What happened?" Prodigy whispered softly. Death chuckled behind her.

"Why don't you turn around and find out?" Visibly shaking, Prodigy turned on her heel and looked at Death. Death looked back, but didn't turn on her power. She just smiled and locked their eyes, knowing that at any time she could have this little girl flat on her back. She took pleasure in that knowledge.

"She shouldn't have to find out," A voice called from behind Prodigy. Prodigy whipped around to look, sighing in relief when she saw She-Devil, standing tall and proud, with Pyro at her side. But her nervous shaking never stopped. Instead she had to resist the urge to run to the older girl and sob. This scary lady had brought down Thor, the strongest person she had ever met, without even touching him.

"Oh, I've been looking forward to this," Death half said, half purred. With an oh-so-innocent look, Death turned to Pyro. His sharp scream penetrated the air and without any other warning, his head cracked against the unforgiving floor.

"Ricky!" Win cried, kneeling down to see what happened. She had to keep her hands away from him, not wanting to catch his hair on fire or anything, because she'd never heard if that was possible or not, and her hands were getting hot enough to light something.

Nothing seemed to have caused him to fall. Pyro was still on the ground, twitching and writhing. His eyes were closed tightly and his face was scrunched up in pain. She-Devil stood back up. "What did you do to him?"

Death closed her eyes lightly. "I don't know, Winifred."

"That's She-Devil!" She corrected. Death just smiled at the angry words.

"Oh, no, Winifred. You're no superheroes. You two don't bring justice. You two don't even help your friends. What do you do but burn them? They give you everything, a motorcycle, a house, an escape, and you give them absolutely nothing. I'm just giving you two what you deserve." Death opened her eyes, the Tesseract blue flashing even brighter for a split second, and then Win could feel what Ricky must have felt.

Fire licked up her veins, acid burned through her brain and her lungs were torn to ribbons. The pain was like nothing she had ever felt before and she found herself on one knee, gasping for breath with all she had. She wished Charlotte was there, wanted to hear her friend say everything was okay. She wished Tony was there to make something that would make this horrible pain stop. Her head fell onto her kneecap and then all she could do was concentrate on her rattling breaths.

In the background, Death was giggling like a madman. Prodigy started to back up, little noises of pure fear escaping her. She was only 12, and somehow more innocent than most 12 year olds. This was all so scary for her. She wasn't ready to face this alone.

"It will be alright, small one," Thor gasped out. "Just don't look her in the eyes!"

Prodigy nodded and closed her eyes, standing shock still, electricity running over her palms in case Death tried to grab her. For the longest time, no one moved. No noises could be heard. And then all at once, there was a flash of light and Death is the one who screamed. She was thrown backwards onto her butt.

Death's angry glare was directed at the man who had just entered. Iron Man's equally blue glowing eyes glared back. Death's power was on, full force. But Iron Man wasn't falling, wasn't even screaming. She kept trying, focusing as hard as she could on the metal man.

"Why won't you scream?!" Death yelled. Prodigy could almost feel her friend's smile.

"Good work blocking her eyes, JARVIS," Iron Man commented, his voice metallic through the suit. Death shrieked and ran at Tony before another energy beam hit her square in the chest. She was knocked backwards again, but it didn't deter her.

When she finally got her hands on him, she was lifted back off. The hand wrapped around her torso was absolutely huge, and green. The Hulk roared in her ears, making her wince before spinning around to look more carefully at the monster that had her in its grasp.

Iron Man was shocked and scared when he saw the Hulk fall to its knees with a cry of pain and Death scrambled away. The Earth shook from the force of the monsters fall and Prodigy found herself on the floor, her eyes still tightly closed.

Death was bruised, one of her ribs was broken, and she was mad. She walked around once, looking everyone on the ground once in the eyes, causing more shrieks of pain. Then she bolted out the building. There was a tiger on her heels, as well as Iron Man. But when Iron Man burst out the doors, all he found was a tiger growling at the sky.

The green eyed beauty was on the building that her prisoners were under. Death's helicopter dropped her off almost silently next to her. At almost the exact same time, two others walked up onto the roof.

Hypno Heart and Feline walked lazily up to Death and the mystery woman. "Have a good run, Death?" Feline purred.

"It was alright. I terrified the little one, brought down the God, the monster, the fire throwers, but Iron Man was blocking my eyes from his vision. The bastard. The only thing that kept me from tearing off his mask is knowing that they will all pay soon." Death grinned deviously.

Hypno Heart swallowed hard, but didn't say anything. She just stared out at the night sky.

The mystery woman laughed. "Patience girls. Soon, they will all pay for what they have done to me, to you."

The three villains all went down to the basement, to their prisoners, leaving the green eyed woman alone. "I swear to you," the woman whispered, her gaze somewhere far away. "I swear to you that you will be avenged, my love. They will not get away with what they did to you. I love you, Loki."

**Dun dun dun! Gasp! I know, I know, not the best chapter. The beginning was hard, but I got into it a little later. The fight scene was a bit pathetic on our heroes side, but it's a little bit hard to fight someone whose eyes will drive you into the ground. **

**So a few questions for you all. What do you think the final battle will be like? Where will Hypno Heart's loyalty lie? Who is this mystery woman? What does she have to do with Loki? How do you think I can make the next few chapters better? Do you think I should have 2, 3, or 4 more chapters, because I have plans for all of those options? **

**Review answers (I'm so sad, I only got two reviews…)**

**Storm229- They will have to put up with Death a lot more next chapter, and I'm sorry for them too! Thank for reviewing!**

**Mythomagic-Chamption- Happy birthday! Thank you! **

**Until next time. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Here's the slightly not really filler-ish chapter. Also, when you've finished reading, I'm opening up another SYOC so I can start when I finish this story, so please submit! I love all your characters so much! **

There was one day after the incident with Death for down time. Only one.

At StarkTower, they didn't know that. Win didn't know that that was possibly that last time she would model a piece of one-size-fits-most armor and hear his overly long scientific explanations for why things worked.

Ricky didn't know that was possibly the last time he would test things that Bruce had supposedly fire-proofed with a ridiculous grin on his faceas he did so.

Hartlyn didn't know that was possibly the last day she was curl up with Sweetheart while Thor read her Harry Potter or passages from a textbook that he couldn't correctly pronounce most of the words in and it would make her giggle.

But under the building next door, they half knew. They knew their captors were acting strangely.

Tonia had been pacing, just looked over at Monet and Clint every now and then smirking. Normally she would constantly threaten them as she sat cross legged on the floor or leaned against the wall, sometimes in cat form.

Scarlett was gone, instead of hanging around and waiting until one of the girls looked her way to drop them.

Aphrodite had gotten so quiet. She still played Monopoly, she still lost every time, and she still smiled at Taylor and laughed with Steve. But she didn't talk quite as much and didn't start conversations. Steve was started to get concerned.

Aphrodite just told him she was tired lately.

Charlotte was trying to untangle her hair, to get all of the bloodied strands apart. Behind her, Natasha was doing her best to help. Doing her best to try to cry out and keep herself distracted, Charlotte started to hum a familiar tune to Natasha.

After a few bars of the tune, Natasha added her high voice to the base melody. "It's time to try defying gravity. I think I'll try defying gravity. And you can't pull me down."

As the song went on, slowly rising in volume as it lifted the spirits of the two in the cell, they could start to hear it the next room over.

Clint grinned widely. "Monet," he whispered, shaking the teenager awake. "Monet, do you hear that?"

Monet blinked sleepily. "Who is that?" she drawled groggily.

"Tasha, and someone else," Then his face fell. "Oh no, she's trapped too, isn't she?"

"Shut up!" Feline called from where she napped, leaning against the wall. Feline got up, arched her back, and stretched. Then she looked at a dainty black watch and smiled. "Oh Hypno!"

She pranced off into the next room, where she found Hypno Heart sitting across from Taylor, talking to him through the bars. From Taylor's perspective, something very odd happened. He and Aphrodite had been talking casually about restaurants they liked when all of a sudden, her tone changed and she said, "And you can never escape!"

That's when Feline entered and Aphrodite left with her. He turned to Steve, "What just happened?"

"Aphrodite's been keeping a lot of secrets, that's what," Steve said, his eyes narrowing.

"You realize she's the one who brought us here in the first place? And she's not letting us out? Do you remember any of that?" Taylor demanded. As close as he'd gotten with the beautiful woman, he hadn't forgotten what she had done to them.

"But she's done so much for us while we've been here…" Steve trailed off, eyes far away. Taylor just threw his hands in the air before settling down into the corner, wishing that Aphrodite hadn't left Monopoly outside of the cell.

The next morning, the green eyed woman was getting ready. The place was ready, the plans were complete, but she had to prepare herself to meet the people who ruined her life. She was twisting her light hair into curls and straightening her gold armor, fastening her long emerald cape. She was already shockingly beautiful, but she wanted to be just as threatening.

StarkTower loomed in front of her and she entered it without a care. The secretary freaked out, as well did everyone else in the lobby. The woman just smiled, still making her way to where she knew the Avengers resided.

The first thing she saw was a huge tiger. Maybe it wasn't what she was expecting, but she was adaptable, and shot a little spark of magic into its face, watching as it hit the ground, fast asleep. After the tiger, everything was what she knew she would face.

In one room, still asleep, was a little girl, much too young to be any threat. It took the smallest amount of sleeping magic to knock her out for hours.

After her was the bumbling idiot, Thor. She knew Thor all too well, and disgust was evident on her face as she hit him with her powers and kept him sleeping.

The monster of a man was awake, as was the metal man. Both of them started to attack and protest, but a simple flick of her wrist sent them both to the floor, snoring.

The last pair was the tan girl with awfully short hair and the pale boy who needed a haircut. Both of them were awake too, but they were both so thin that it took so little to bring them down.

Luckily her girls were there to carry the limp bodies out for her. She helped of course, but she also quickly flashed over to the place she had prepared, getting ready for when they all awoke. When all of the sleeping Avengers were in place, She ordered the girls to bring back their own prisoners and handed them each two syringes of sedative.

Death took pleasure in bringing down her prisoners. When she held up the sedatives, Charlotte squeaked ever so slightly and Natasha stood in front of her, protecting her with her body. The red head took the first syringe easily and readily. But when the stuff kicked in, Natasha landed flat on her face and Charlotte was unprotected. Looking down at Natasha, Charlotte stepped up to the bars, a defiant look on her face. Death rolled her eyes at the heroics and stabbed her quickly in the neck.

Feline giggled as Monet pressed herself into the corner. Clint was next to her, whispering into her ear, trying to get her to relax. He tried to assure her everything would be okay, that they could get their shots together and it would all be over. When she finally gave up, Monet walked up with Clint, holding his hand tightly. Feline knew they wanted Monet to get hers and then Clint would be fine. So she slowly, agonizingly, pushed the plunger into Clint's neck. Monet backed up, fear written in her face, but Feline caught her and got her.

Aphrodite was having a hard time. She had gained their trust, become their friend, and she didn't want to hurt them. But she had to. She had known since the beginning that this was how it had to end. So when she walked into the room, she ignored their happy smiles and held out the syringes, one in each hand, stabbing them both in an arm at the same time. Steve and Taylor both look utterly betrayed, and Steve had started to say something until he slumped over onto the ground.

With her eyes closed and a feeling of extreme guilt, she helped bring the Avengers into the designated place.

The woman stood over the Avengers, watching as they started to wake up all at once, the way she had planned. As they groggily took in their odd surroundings, the woman smiled and started to speak.

"Why hello, friends! It's been a long time! I haven't seen you since, oh, since you had my husband sent to the dungeons of Asgard!" Her voice went from sickly sweet to murderous. "Venom drips into my poor baby's eyes and I can't stand to see him in such pain! My Loki is in agony, deep below the Asgardian palace! You have taken away my husband, my love, the father of my children, my other half!"

Iron Man glared up at her and screamed, "Who are you?!"

She grinned down at him. "Why, I am so humbled that you asked! I am Sigyn, Goddess of Loyalty."

Win coughed from across from Tony and asked her own questions. "What do you want from us?! What did we do to you!? Why have you put us here?!"

Sigyn laughed heartily. "I told you. You took my other half away from me. Half of me is gone, seemingly forever. So I'm doing the same to your team!"

***Gasp!* I know I didn't tell you much about where they are or even much about Sigyn, but next chapter will be more from the perspective of the Avengers as they wake up, and all will be told. Aphrodite is getting more and more fun to write, I swear. **

**Next chapter and maybe the chapter after that should be the fight and the trickery Sigyn has brought to that. What can I say, Loki rubbed off on her. **

**Questions! Doesn't Sigyn sound fun? Where do you think they are? What does she mean by doing to the team what they did to her? Do you think there will be any casualties? **

**Review Answers-**

**Storm229- Win and Charlotte seemed like an unlikely but good match for friends, so I tried to bring that up. I'll put in as many chapters as the story allows! Thanks!**

**Mythomagic-Champion- Thank you! You're such a good guesser! Either that, or you did your research! I'll do my best to do what I can on the amount of epicness.**

**TheOnlyEv- I'm glad you think I did well with Death. She's fun. Amora was close, but not quite. I still appreciate the guess. Thanks for the review! **

**Until next time. **


	14. Chapter 14

Charlotte is the one who woke up first, though the others were right behind her. She looked around, seeing that she was in a seemingly hopeless situation.

She was in a sort of room, 12 foot tall glass walls on three sides. But the other side led to something that made her gasp. A drop. A sheer drop, the jagged rocks the made up the bottom being at least 100 feet below, if not farther.

With ragged breaths, Charlotte backed into the wall farthest away from the cliff, only 10 feet away from it. As she did that, a tall woman stepped out onto a glass platform high above them, looking down at the drop. Charlotte looked around to see the others all around her.

On her right was another glass 'room', and in this one was Monet, a long gash down her face, probably from the battle with Hypno Heart. And on her left was Taylor, looking perfectly healthy even though he'd been trapped with Hypno Heart for weeks. Next to Taylor was Hartlyn, and then Winifred, and then Ricky. For a moment Charlotte was confused, was it only the new additions, until she looked across from her.

There was her room and then the drop, and then another room. In that compartment was a groggy, but very angry, Natasha. Charlotte found herself reaching out for the older woman without even meaning to. Natasha caught her gaze and nodded once before turning back to look at the woman.

"Why hello, friends! It's been a long time! I haven't seen you since, oh, since you had my husband sent to the dungeons of Asgard! Venom drips into my poor baby's eyes and I can't stand to see him in such pain! My Loki is in agony, deep below the Asgardian palace! You have taken away my husband, my love, the father of my children, my other half!" The woman screeched. Her green and gold outfit seemed so familiar in some way that it hurt Charlotte's brain.

Tony glared up at her from across Win, and screamed, "Who are you?!"

The woman grinned down at him. "Why, I am so humbled that you asked! I am Sigyn, Goddess of Loyalty."

Win coughed. "What do you want from us?! What did we do to you!? Why have you put us here?!"

Sigyn laughed, or chuckled, or cackled, Charlotte wasn't sure which. "I told you. You took my other half away from me. Half of me is gone, seemingly forever. So I'm doing the same to your team!"

They all looked around at each other, confused. But they knew their situation meant something horrible had to happen soon. Sigyn noticed their confusion and cackled again. "Let me explain. We're going to play a game. Look around, Avengers. The veterans are on one side of the ridge, and the precious babies are on the other."

From the far right to the far left, it went Monet across from Clint, Charlotte across from Natasha, Taylor across from Steve, Hartlyn across from Thor, Win across from Tony, and Ricky across from Bruce.

"Before I go on, I must let you know that the glass walls are enchanted, my magic is quite effective. If any of you crack or try to go over these walls, you and the person across from you will both die immediately. If one of you tries to use your powers to hurt me, it will rebound and affect your friends. However, there is a way out. But not for all of you. I did say you took away half of me."

All of the Avengers looked around suspiciously, wondering what it was the crazy woman really meant.

"The way out is that when one person jumps into the abyss and the certain death below, the back wall of the person across from them will lift up, and that person will be free. Of course, one will be dead, but one will be free," Sigyn said with a grin.

There was a collective gasp. Tony screamed out again, "What happens when six of us are free?"

Sigyn looked hurt. "Whatever you want. We can fight, they can all walk free, whatever happens. First, your team needs to be decimated."

Every pair of Avengers looked at one another sadly. It just had to be arranged that way. It just had to be that they were across the person that they most trusted, most loved. They all started talking.

Monet looked at Clint. "I'll go, Clint. It's the least I can do."

"What do you mean?" Clint exclaimed. "What did you do that makes you think you should sacrifice yourself for me?"

"Clint! You're the one who is experienced is crime fighting. If I got free, I wouldn't do anything good for the world. My scar, my inexperience, everything that you're made of is better than what I'm made of. I don't deserve to live as much as you do," Her Southern Belle voice got choked towards the end as her eyes started to well up with tears.

Win and Tony shed no tears. Only odd looks. Neither of them knew what to do.

"Anyone can be Iron Man," Tony said to Win, who looked appalled.

"No they can't. Only you can be Iron Man. You are Iron Man, and you're the only Iron Man. That is all."

"No. The suit is something that can be worn by anyone who it fits. It's that simple," Tony retorted. Win put her hands on her hips and glared at the billionaire. Then it turned into a staring contest, blue eyes on brown. Neither of them was willing to give it up.

Thor was not arguing or glaring. Hartlyn was a sobbing mess, and he did his best to comfort her from that distance. "It will all be fine, small one! You will return home to Sweetheart and the others will take fine care of you!"

Hartlyn was a very smart girl and she knew what Thor was implying. "I don't want to lose you!"

Thor smiled, knowing he most likely wouldn't make it out of this one. Sigyn was too powerful and cunning to not think of his strength and almost-immortality. So when he jumped, he did so without any doubt, without any regret.

He landed with a wet thud, blood tickling from several places on his body. But no one could tell whether or not he was dead from such a distance. Hartlyn screamed and it took her a few moments to see that she was free. She ran out and went behind Monet, leaning against the wall and burying her head in her hands.

At almost the same moment, Ricky was pleading with Bruce to not do what he already knew was coming. Bruce thought there was a good chance the Hulk would make it through and wasn't going to be persuaded against it. He stepped, just a small step, and then he was falling. When he landed, unseen by the others, green rippled over his tanned skin, hardening it for just long enough. The Hulk protected him from death, though the damage was still enough to cause Bruce pain. He certainly looked dead from the others perspective.

Ricky walked out, and just stood there, staring into the hole that he knew his mentor, his friend was in. He was just waiting, hoping that the Hulk would suddenly come out, alive and whole. But nothing happened.

Natasha was trying to calm down Charlotte, who had just witnessed two of her friends jumping to their deaths. "Come on, Charlotte, it's okay! You'll make it through this!"

"I don't want to make it through this!" Charlotte cried. "I don't want to do this without you!"

Natasha looked sadly at her teenage friend. "Rush, you don't understand. A lot of the things I've done in my lifetime are not good things. I've killed a lot of people; I've broken a lot of families. You're still so young, so innocent, and so full of potential to be something so great."

Charlotte could feel the tears drip down her cheeks. She looked over at Taylor, who was sitting dejectedly, his legs dangling over the edge. She ran over to press her palms to the glass wall that they shared. She had something to say, before she put her plan into action.

"Taylor?" She asked. Taylor turned and scooted over so that he was right next to the glass.

"Yeah, Charlotte?" He asked in his deep voice. Charlotte looked around and bit her lip, finally gaining enough courage to say it.

"Taylor, I really like you. A lot. And just in case either of us or both of us are the ones who go down, I wanted you to know that." She said all in one breath, closing her eyes, fearing rejection.

Taylor smiled, and reached out, his fingertips against the glass, wishing he could brush that stray lock of hair out of her face. "I like you too, Charlotte. And I hope for our sake that we both get out of here."

Steve smiled from across the way, realizing again how much the kid meant to him now. He would jump right now if it would save him. With a start, Steve realized that was the right thing to do. So he shouted out to Taylor. "Taylor! It's been really good knowing you!"

"No, Steve!" Taylor shouted, turning away from Charlotte.

As Steve got ready to jump, so did Charlotte. Both Natasha and Taylor were shouting, begging them to stop, but neither paid any heed. It was only when another voice added the mix that they both paused, Steve actually stepping back.

"Please, Steve, don't!" This voice was much more feminine, and soon someone was running up behind Steve's back wall. Her red and gold curls bounced against her back as she ran, and her pink eyes were wide and fearful. She was in the black and gold suit that she terrorized Central Park in.

"Aphrodite?" Steve asked breathlessly. Aphrodite nodded, tears threatening to spill onto her flawless skin. Her hands pressed against his glass.

"Please don't do this. Please don't do this!" She begged. Steve looked confused.

"Why, Aphrodite? You captured us and kept us in a cell for weeks. Why do you suddenly care?"

Aphrodite looked betrayed. "I always cared, you jerk! That's why I fed you, and brought you Monopoly and talked to you like you were my friend. Because you are my friend. And Taylor," She looked past Steve over to the dark haired teenager. "You're my friend too."

Sigyn looked outraged. "Hypno Heart, what are you doing? These people are your enemies!"

Aphrodite shook her head. "No. They were never my enemies. Only yours. Maybe the other two believed you, but I never believed that your husband was innocent."

"How _dare_ you speak of Loki that way?!" Sigyn looked into something that no one else could see. "Girls! Get her!"

Feline and Death slunk out of the seemingly solid wall of the warehouse of sorts that they were in. Hypno Heart readied herself for what was coming, being careful not to look into Death's eyes. Neither of them were men, she couldn't control them or stop them. She had to rely on the dirty fighting she'd learned a long time ago.

Steve watched in horror as Feline morphed seamlessly into a large blonde cat that began to swipe its claws at the woman he'd learned to call a friend. "No," he whispered, his hands now against the glass in horror. He seemed to have forgotten about wanting to jump and let Taylor walk free.

"Nat!" Charlotte shouted, using the nickname that only she and Clint were allowed to use, similar to Tasha. "Help her if you can. Goodbye!" She looked around at all of the people on her team that she had learned to trust. Her good friends, Monet and Win. Her practically little siblings, Hartlyn and Ricky. The person she liked as more than a friend. All of the older people who had taken her under their wing, including her mentor and second mother, Natasha. It was more friends than she had had in years.

"Goodbye," Charlotte whispered once more.

With that, Charlotte gracefully dived into the abyss, rolling once in the air. She did this with a smile because she was letting Natasha go and letting the world keep a hero.

Only one person noticed what happened at the bottom of the abyss, and that was Taylor. He hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from Charlotte. Just a minute earlier, he had been envisioning them both getting out and…things progressing from there. And he felt like Charlotte had just shattered all of that. So he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

That's why he saw a mass of green roll towards her and catch her before she hit the ground. Hulk put one finger to his lips and Charlotte nodded fearfully, her dark hair falling into her face as the Hulk cradled her. Taylor hid his grin so that Sigyn or the other goons realized that Charlotte hadn't died.

Natasha was let out, freed from her glass prison. She jumped into the fight, punching Death square in the jaw. "That's for hurting me and Charlotte!"

Taylor looked down, and then at Aphrodite, and then at Steve. He closed his eyes, wished hard, and jumped.

He got lucky. The Hulk noticed him and set down the girl so that he could catch this new friend. Hulk didn't recognize the boy, but he seemed to make the girl happy, so he put the boy next to her.

Steve didn't notice until his glass wall slid open, and his vision of Aphrodite shifted around and he realized that the barrier was gone. Knowing what that meant, he turned quickly to see that Taylor had gone. Taylor had just sacrificed himself. For half of a second, he grieved, his eyes shut tightly and he flashed through his memories from the cell. Steve would save the majority of the memories for later, after he was done fighting for Aphrodite.

Steve rushed in with fists flying. Death fell down quickly, her poisonous eyes trying to find purchase on any of her attackers and failing. Feline was left to flip and kick, her foot landing on Aphrodite's face, but it was quickly twisted painfully by the same girl. Memories flooded back into Aphrodite's mind.

Don't aim for the face, aim for the gut. That's what will bring them down. Advice like that had been given to her a long time ago, and now it was all coming back to her. Aprhdoite didn't need Steve or Natasha's help to finish bringing down the thrashing cheerleader, now in her human form.

Monet realized what had been happening, and she gestured once to Clint. Clint looked down in shock as he saw the Hulk and two unharmed teenagers, and one still un-moving Thor far away. Clint is the one who dropped, landing almost gracefully into the Hulk's open arms.

Monet was let out to comfort the sobbing Hartlyn on the other side of her wall. Ricky ran up next to them, looking at them with concern. She took the small girl into her arms, looking up at Sigyn and hoping that she wouldn't notice that they had found a way out.

Win and Tony hadn't noticed what was happening in the crevice below. They were still arguing, a battle of the wills. Both of them were too fiery and fiercely loyal to let the other one kill themselves.

"No one else could wear your suit Tony! No one else could take what you have to take!" Win was pleading.

Tony shook his head. "No way, Hell Girl. There's no replacement for what you've got."

Win was sick of it. She was tired of trying to convince Tony that the world needed him, need Iron Man and Tony Stark alike. Not even knowing that there was a chance of her survival, without even saying goodbye, Win hurled herself off the edge.

"WIN!" Tony shouted with pain and grief clear in his voice. He found himself unable to look, unable to watch his friend fall. Tony had done so much to try and make her life better, knowing what kind of house she came from, and this was how she wanted to repay him. With her life.

Tony stepped slowly out from his cell. They were now all empty, six Avengers freed, six Avengers at the bottom of a dark hole. Of course, many of the freed Avengers didn't know that at least five of their presumed dead friends were just fine. As they looked around, trying to decide what to do, Charlotte was running over to Thor, Taylor and Clint at her side. They were going to see if he was still alive, even if he was bruised and battered.

Win was trying to whisper to Bruce through the Hulk, to get the doctor to come out and check on Thor. It took a while for her to get through to him, but eventually the Hulk shrunk down. However, he forgot to set down Win, so she ended up laying on top of a mostly naked Bruce. She quickly scrambled off and they made their way over to Thor, their ears practically standing on end as they listened carefully to what happened above them.

Sigyn had left her podium and was now level with the Avengers, heading towards them with murderous rage clear on her face. The Avengers, all without weapons, waited with bated breath for her to announce her purpose. Luckily for them, she was a supervillain. And no supervillain could resist a good monologue.

"There," Sigyn said venomously. "No don't you feel better? You can understand what I'm going through. It's like half of you was torn away and ripped to shreds, isn't it? Except I probably feel less pain. At least I didn't sacrifice Loki to the bottom of a pit. So maybe my revenge is complete, because I've done to you everything I feel, but slightly worse. It's perfectly poetic, and now I only have one more things to do. So you can all leave. You have no weapons, and no chance. I shall see you all in Helheim."

There was a moment where they all paused. Sigyn seemed to realize something and after three seconds, she teleported Ricky, Monet, and Hartlyn, all over to the side of the warehouse that the older heroes stood on.

"There, now you can go." Sigyn tried to wave them away, but they weren't ready to leave. This woman had just murdered six of their friends, they weren't letting her go.

But they quickly realized several things. Charlotte, Taylor, Monet, Hartlyn, Win, Ricky, Natasha, Clint, Bruce, and sort of Steve were the Avengers that were useful without their weapons. Charlotte, Taylor, Win, Clint, and Bruce were all at the bottom of a pit, which left Monet, Hartlyn, Ricky, and Natasha. Hartlyn was too distraught and tearful to fight. Monet's scream would damage her friends ears. Natasha could strike, but it would be so obvious because her attacks were purely physical, same with Steve. Which left Ricky.

They all seemed to come to this conclusion at the same time. Ricky looked around, fear clear in his eyes. It was all up to him. No one had ever needed Ricky like they did right at that moment. So he acted.

Fire erupted from his palms, surrounding Sigyn in tongues of flame. The sorceress tipped her head back in pain for a second until her pain turned to rage. She shot back at Ricky with more force than his angry flames, green and gold blasts of energy reaching the boy and causing immeasurable pain in all of his muscles, not unlike what Death was capable of.

But Ricky was angrier than Sigyn. He remembered when Bruce had tried to explain the complex fibers making up his gloves and the chemicals in his burn cream, when he had side hugged him and Ricky had felt like he had more family. Win had always taken him on rides on her sweet motorcycle, even when she didn't really want to. Charlotte watched dumb cartoons with him. Taylor bonded with him as the only other new guy before he was taken. And all of these people, his _friends_ were dead at the bottom of a hole, most likely, if Bruce hadn't managed to have the Hulk save him.

The anger in his flames seemed to counteract the sorceress, and inflict more damage on her than she could do on him. The flames bursting from the teenager turned from red to orange to white and blue. The white and blue inferno engulfed Sigyn, providing the perfect painful distraction that a certain group had been waiting for.

Down at the bottom of the crevice was a carefully grouped band of heroes. There were several Taylors, all waiting anxiously. Charlotte was vibrating with nerves, and Win was just slightly calmer. Thor was still completely out of it, though Bruce was pretty sure he was okay, though he didn't know much about Aesir physiology. Clint wasn't too nervous; he didn't have much to do with this plan.

As Sigyn was busy being burned by a scorned teenager, Bruce looked around nervously before seamlessly shifting into the Hulk, his skin turning green and bulging with huge, unbeatable muscles. Win stepped up to the Hulk, fear just behind her blue eyes, waiting to make sure that the Hulk wouldn't smash her into oblivion. When he didn't seem to want her in the crushed version, Win stepped even closer. Hulk reached down, his meaty green hands side by side. Win stepped onto them, one foot on each hand.

Hulk lowered his arms before quickly lifting them, launching the Hispanic girl into the air, above the edge of the chasm, above the glass walls. Win aimed herself just right, landing square onto Loki's wife. Sigyn fell to the ground.

In her humiliation, Sigyn got even angrier. She exploded with magic, but directed it all at the person she felt the most anger at. Aphrodite Cullens.

The red head was blown backwards and she landed with a resounding crack from her head. She wasn't moving. Steve, unable to resist, ran to her side, checking for a pulse and giving a thumbs up when he felt a light flutter in her wrist.

But the backlash of the magic kept Sigyn on the ground, just as it blasted Win and Natasha both the ground because they were closest to her.

Following Win, Hulk threw Charlotte, who held onto the original Taylor's hand. She dropped him onto the ground before running over to Sigyn and motioning Taylor to do something. Taylor split into four Taylors, all of whom grabbed onto one of Sigyn's limbs. Next came Clint, and then Hulk himself jumped, a limp Thor in his arms. After they landed, cracking the floor in the process, Hulk promptly dumped Thor onto the ground next to him.

"You _imbeciles_!" Sigyn shrieked. As all of the six originally free Avengers looked at their friends in either giddy joy or utter shock, Sigyn was getting up. But at this point, it was pretty much over for the sorceress. Her two still-loyal sidekicks were incapacitated, and the Hulk was keeping an eye on them just in case they suddenly got up. Sigyn was horribly outnumbered, and her magic was drained from her explosion.

Four Taylors still had Sigyn in the air, suspended by each of her limbs. "Anyone want to help me with this?" Taylor groaned as Sigyn started getting enough magic back to run electric currents over her skin, succeeding in causing mild pain that was slowly getting worse. Charlotte would have loved to speed of with Sigyn and dump her off of something, possibly even her own cliff, but she wouldn't be able lift her.

Ricky and Hartlyn were the one who helped subdue her. Hartlyn, her tears slowly drying off her cheeks, kept her hands a few inches away and concentrated. After only a few seconds, bolts of electricity shot from each of her fingertips, scorching Sigyn in 10 different places. Then Ricky was over her, fire in his palms, only a threat for the moment. Sigyn glared at him, her green eyes hardening as the flames reflected in them. But she stopped struggling.

That was it.

Feline was simply picked up by Clint, who used all of his willpower to not hurt her beyond digging his fingernails in a little bit, remembering all of the mental trauma he and Monet had gone through.

Natasha ripped off the bottom half of her T-shirt and tied it over Death's eyes so that she would just be a harmless teenage girl. She had Death, Clint had Feline, and they both carried them out of the building through the place in the wall that Hypno Heart had burst out of, revealing it to be a door with some sort of spell that made it look like just more wall.

The many Taylors, with Ricky nearby, hauled out Sigyn. Behind them went Steve with a still-unconscious Aphrodite. Behind him was the strange procession of Charlotte, Monet, Hartlyn, Win, Tony, and Hulk with Thor in his arms.

It was all over, all taken care of. The new kid's first official supervillain was being disposed of.

But the joy of that was very small compared to Taylor's joy of being in a safe home again, Steve's joy of getting Aphrodite set up with medicine to save her, Tony's joy of getting back to a place where he could easily control and advance everything around him, Bruce's joy of shrinking back down into the regular old shy doctor and getting Thor hooked up to multiple machines, Ricky's joy of sitting back on a couch and knowing he didn't have to die today, Win's joy at putting her motorcycle away for a night because she didn't have to go on any searches, Charlotte's joy of seeing Taylor safe at home again, Natasha's joy of being reunited with Clint after those long weeks, and Hartlyn's joy of having a large tiger greet her at the door with sticky, wet, tiger kisses.

Sometimes it's the little things that make almost dying worth it.

**There. That was…exhausting. It isn't terribly good and it kind of hurt to get out, but it's done. I just had to make Sigyn lure them into an elaborate trap and force them to either die or sacrifice the person they've become closest to. It was too deliciously poetic to resist. **

**This was the climax, the final fight. There will be one more chapter after this, and then an epilogue, and then we're done. Conflict will be over and done with, and I will start on Everyone's Fight, which I hope you will all join me for. **

**What did you think of the final fight? Of Sigyn? The trap? What do you think of Charlotte and Taylor? Steve and Aphrodite? Is Thor okay? **

**Review Responses:**

**Storm229: Yeah, I geddit. :) Thanks for submitting by the way! And thanks for reviewing!**

**Mythomagic-Champion: Not really any deaths, but we got pretty close, didn't we? I hope you liked Win's scene. Thanks! **


	15. Chapter 15

None of them wanted a party, but Tony insisted. And whatever Tony wanted, Tony got. That's the most important rule of living in StarkTower.

Sigyn had been sent to Asgard to be punished with her husband it whatever way the Aesir found fit. Feline and Death were locked up, therapists taking cracks at them. From the news that had reached them, Death was starting to crack after they had tied a blindfold over her eyes and put in a few stitches, attaching it to her face. They couldn't really stop Feline from turning into a cat though, so they kept her in such a small cage that she couldn't turn back into a normal girl until they needed her to talk to a psychologist. Aphrodite had been tested after she woke back up from Sigyn's magical backlash, and had been deemed safe to stay with them.

In other words, they were safe.

So they were going to have a black tie party to introduce the kids into the superhero business, a business a few of them were considering quitting already. But that decision would have to wait until later, because first they had to meet superheroes from around the state, country, even some from around the world.

Monet walked into the main room for this shindig with a giggling Hartlyn on her arm. She looked elegant in a strapless white dress and white stilettos, but as hard as she tried she couldn't cover up her scar. It was like it was mocking her, reminding her that sweet little Southern Belle Monet was gone and replaced by Pitch, possibly forever.

As they walked in, Thor strode up to them, looking as though his arms were going to rip through the sleeves of his smart black suit. "My lady," he said politely, taking Hartlyn's hand from Monet. Hartlyn smiled even wider and walked off with him. Thor picked her up and spun her around, the endless layer of pink tulle on her dress swirling with her, once before leading her to the punch, allowing her to drink some before anyone else got any.

Monet started to head towards Clint, just to talk and wait, but Clint immediately went off in the other direction. Monet felt insulted until she saw what he was heading for. Natasha looked absolutely stunning. Always, of course, but tonight more than usual. Monet didn't blame Clint for needing to go see her.

Tony and Pepper stood in the corner, waiting for their out-of-town guests to arrive, as well as the rest of their team.

Taylor was leaning against a wall, blatantly being against the black tie dress code. He had on black dress pants, a white button up shirt, and a black sport coat, but no tie and his jacket was unbuttoned. He was next to Bruce, who wasn't dressed in black but in dark brown, just chatting. He never really had a chance to talk to the shy scientist before, and he was realizing now that they could have been good friends. Ricky was with them in his own uncomfortable suit.

Steve finally arrived. He looked very nice and old fashioned, just like he always did, but the girl on his arm contrasted him perfectly. Aphrodite was still walking a bit shakily, even though the attack had been three weeks ago, Sigyn had powerful magic. Her hair was still long, though not quite as long as it once was, and it feel in curls over her little black dress with an open back. Steve blushed the first time he saw the dress, not even the first time he saw it on her, which left him speechless.

Taylor walked over to them with a smile. As skeptical as he was at first, Taylor had come to accept their sort of relationship. They were surprisingly compatible somehow. It shouldn't have worked, and the fact that it did made it amazing.

Aphrodite smiled and started to run to him. But then she remembered that she was still more fragile than she was used to and stuck next to Steve's side, just smiling. Taylor preferred it that way and just went to talk to them.

There were two people that hadn't yet made it down to the ballroom of sorts. One of them was antsy to get down, but was being held back by the other one.

Win tipped her head back and groaned, leaning back on the closed door of Charlotte's room. "You are ready! You look fine!"

"My hair isn't done yet!" Charlotte called back frantically. Win stomped back into the bathroom and saw Charlotte with her hands in her dark hair, pulling back tow braids in the front as she meticulously fastened them into another braid. Her face had hints of makeup that went nicely with her long blue chiffon dress that had taken her hours to pick out when they all went dress shopping.

Win had a royal blue dress too, but hers only went to her knees and was strapless. But a dress like that gets cold, so she pulled her leather motorcycle jacket over it. That dress had taken her 15 minutes to find.

It wasn't that Win wondered why she was acting like that. Charlotte had to try and outshine Natasha, Emma Frost, Jean Gray, Ororo Munroe A.K.A. Storm, and any other gorgeous woman that showed up. She was just a fairly average 17 year old girl. But she looked beautiful.

"You're done with your hair. Now let's go!" Win whined, pulled on her elbow. Charlotte reluctantly allowed herself to be led out of her room and into the ballroom, that she was surprised to see had more than just the people that lived with her.

Tony was playfully shoving a very hot guy in a red tuxedo and black tie. His hair was sort of fluffy and brown and he was grinning like a madman. Natasha was talking to a woman in a pink dress with wild brown hair, a man with near-white hair hovering near by.

Taylor walked up to Win and Charlotte, nodded politely. "Our guests are arriving. This should be fun."

It was, actually. It turns out the man Tony had been shoving was Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool, who was quite a fun guy. Natasha had been talking to Scarlet Witch, her brother Quicksilver watching her closely.

More people inevitably showed up.

Emma Frost made a huge entrance, her backless white dress leaving little to the imagination. She and Aphrodite sat down side by side on some barstools and got along surprisingly well, drawing every male eye to them, partly because of their clothes and partly because of the sort of pheromones Aphrodite emitted without meaning to. Natasha was slightly jealous until Clint looked at her like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

The Fantastic Four all showed up too. Sue and Richard just stayed off to the side, being their responsible selves. But Win found herself having a lot of fun talking to Johnny, the Human Torch. They were both the sort of teenage rebel, and talking to him was just fun.

"You know, you look a lot like Steve," Win commented. Johnny grinned.

"Everyone says that!" A whole new conversation about why Johnny did or didn't look like Captain America started up, and at one point Win dragged Steve away from Wolverine to compare them side by side.

Bruce introduced Ricky to his cousin Jennifer who had unfortunately needed a blood transfusion last time Bruce went to visit her and had developed some interesting side effects. Such as turning into a very strong, very angry, feminine green rage monster.

It would have been hard for all of the kids to meet all of the guests, there were so many by the end. Even listing them all would be a chore. But the guests weren't what made Tony's night. What made Tony's night was the kids.

Hartlyn was everyone's little sister, even for the people who had just met her. Every guy with a heart would pick her up and twirl her in a dance to whatever song was playing. She would giggle and everyone around her would smile. Thor had to carry her off to bed at around 9 because she was swaying on the spot with exhaustion.

Charlotte and Taylor were stuck together as soon as Charlotte entered and Taylor just looked at her for a minute. They moved in sync, without even communicating. Sure, they talked plenty, but they talked to other guests too, always side by side.

Ricky had a blast meeting the powerful people he had always looked up to. He looked like a kid in a candy store every time a new hero congratulated the team's victory and shook his hand.

Monet kept trying to hide her face, and even though everyone saw her scar, no one commented on it. After a while, she seemed to forget that she was 'deformed' and just had fun. She danced with Clint and even Wolverine at one point. Seeing her laugh again, really let go and laugh, made all of the Avengers feel a little bit lighter.

Win was having the time of her life. She exchanged stories with other heroes, especially Johnny Storm. Johnny invited her to dance at one point and Win was flipped into the air, twirled around, and altogether made dizzy and euphoric. The song didn't even matter, it was peppy and the dance made her laugh.

Those are the things that made Tony smile that night, surrounded by some people who hated each other, some who loved each other, and some who just tolerated each other. Friendships were forming, young love was blossoming, and innocent laughter. In that moment, everything was bliss.

**The penultimate chapter! Next chapter will be 10, 15 years in the future. I already miss these characters...**

**Questions! What did you think of them interacting with other Marvel characters? How are the next 10 years going to pass for our heroes? Any guesses? **

**Review Responses:**

**MadgirlwithanIpodandaTardis: Interesting name change, by the way. I completely understand your desire for ranting, trust me. Also, let me know if you write a story about Death, it sounds like it could be interesting. I'd even beta if you want. **

**Storm229: Thank you so much! Also, I loved Eira and I'm excited to work with her. (I can't help but talk like they're real people) I hope you liked the way this turned out. **

**Mythomagic-Champion: I hate it when people don't finish these types of stories, and I've never been great at finishing things, so this means a lot to me. Thanks a lot!**

**Until next time. **


	16. Chapter 16

**The last chapter. What has happened to our good friends in the last 10 years? **

"Tony! Get your butt out of the chair! Everyone's coming today!" Win whined, pulled at the billionaires arm. Tony grinned and turned to look the 28 year old in the eye.

"But I'm busy!" Win crossed her arms. Her royal blue glare burned into Tony just as deeply as her sparks would. Of course, 10 years after the whole Sigyn incident and the initiation of sorts into the superhero community, Win had her angry sparking under control.

"Come on!" Her tanned hands were back on his arm, pulling as hard as she could. "Get up!"

"Why?" He moaned, his voice still that of a petulant child even as half of his hair was gray and he was visibly showing signs of aging, not to mention that he was now the loving husband of a Mrs. Pepper Stark. Win just groaned and pulled Tony to his feet, dragging him out of the lab as Bruce watched on in amusement. Bruce hadn't seemed to age anymore, the Hulk was keeping him the same, much the way that Steve's serum kept him frozen forever.

Win kept pulling him along as Tony continued to whine. "Why is everyone coming over today anyway?"

Win stopped and spun to look him in the eye. "Do you know how long it's been since I've seen Charlotte and Taylor? 2 years! I haven't seen Zoe for that long either! Do you know how long it's been since I've seen Monet? 5 years, at the Harris-Wesely wedding! That's a long time! So just shut up!"

A peal of sweet laughter rippled through the air. Win whipped her head around to see her 22 year old friend with a book in one hand and the other on her hip, eyes closed in joy behind her thin rimmed glasses. Hartlyn was still a huge part of the Avengers and had matured and her intelligence level had skyrocketed even further, but she was still Hartlyn. She still danced with Thor and giggled at bad jokes and cried when anyone mentioned the late Sweetheart, who had gotten too old to go on when Hartlyn was 17.

"Cut him some slack, Winnie, he'll be that way no matter what."

"I know," Win sighed. "But sometimes I think having a wife and 50 years under his belt might make him more mature." After sharing a quick glance, both women started laughing uncontrollably.

"What's going on?" Steve approached them, confusion written clearly on his face. Tony started to pout.

"Steve, they're bullying me!" He complained. Steve smiled, raised his hands in surrender, and slowly backed away. "Steve don't leave me!"

Clint and Natasha sauntered up, Ricky close behind them. "When is everyone else getting here?" Clint asked for possibly the 42nd time.

Natasha rolled her eyes and glanced at the sparkly watch on her wrist. "In about 10 minutes, Clint. Calm down."

Clint and Tony both flopped onto the couch wearing matching pouts. Clint was starting to look older as well, but Natasha was showing hardly any wear. The Red Room had done something to her genetically that would keep her alive for a very long time, which was one of the prime reasons she was making sure nothing big happened between her and Clint anytime soon.

Ricky and Win talked for a while, returning to a conversation about Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which they had finally watched together just a week earlier. Ricky started singing the dolphin song and Win looked ready to punch the 25 year old after only a minute of it.

Hartlyn pulled Bruce aside and started asking a few questions about the near breakthroughs they were making in thermonuclear fusion together. Natasha watched them in amusement as they got more and more animated and their words got bigger and bigger.

JARVIS, his voice ever the same, sounded through the ceiling. "Sir, it seems that the Harris family has arrived."

Tony clapped his hands together, leaving Clint alone on the couch. "Perfect! Send them up!"

The elevator opened with a ding and a high pitched squeal emitted from it. A small brown blur shot out of the elevator and landed on Win's legs. Win looked down in shock, smiling when she found a four year old girl smiling up at her.

"Hi Auntie Win!" She said happily.

"Hello Zoe," Win responded with a motherly smile. Charlotte emerged from the elevator, Taylor right behind her. Win passed Zoe to Hartlyn, who immediately started talking happily with her. The two women walked towards each other and hugged tightly.

"It's good to see you again, Rush," Win whispered. Charlotte pulled back and playfully glared back.

"I haven't gone by that name in a few years, Win," Charlotte told her. "I'm not really Rush anymore."

Win snorted. "That's like saying Hartlyn isn't Prodigy anymore because she's old now. Or that Taylor isn't Battalion anymore. You'll always be Rush. You were Rush for 6 years, and she isn't going to leave you behind. Rush will be there for Zoe, Battalion will be there to protect Zoe…every time you use your little speed trick you're Rush again. Get over it."

Win had known she would have to clarify that for Charlotte, because she knew Charlotte wanted to leave the hero stuff behind, so she had her argument prepared. Charlotte looked surprised and Taylor grinned toothily. "Good to see you, Win."

"I've missed working with your clones. They made life easier," Win informed him, making his smile get even bigger. After the whole Sigyn incident, when Battalion got to fight with the team and use his clones to overtake foes, he made the fights easier. Not to mention at StarkTower, moving furniture suddenly became a much shorter task.

Tony gave Charlotte a hug, and so did Clint and Steve. Natasha looked her in the eye for a while, remembering back to the days with Death and Wicked references, before hugging her tightly. She whispered, so softly that only Charlotte had a chance of hearing it. "I'm so proud of you." She left off the rest. I'm so proud that you found love. I'm so proud that you are raising your daughter. I'm so proud that you could come back to the life you wanted to leave behind, even just for a day. I'm so proud you found a family of your own.

Taylor shook hands and stood in front of Steve for a little while longer than he had anyone else. "Where's Aphrodite?"

Steve smiled. "I don't really know. I'm sure she'll show up some time soon, but you guys coming back seemed to make her a bit nervous." Taylor nodded in understanding. They had all forgiven Aphrodite, but he could understand why them being back older and stronger was a bit scary for her.

"Popped the question yet, old timer?" Steve half blushed before raising his left hand, a silver ring glinting in the light. Taylor pulled the older man into a hug, and Charlotte, seeing the flash, was not far behind.

"I'm so happy for you!" Something seemed to have happened to Charlotte. She went from the happy, yet shy, teenage girl they all knew into a happy, outgoing, mature woman. It was a nice change, but it further reminded Win, Hartlyn, and Ricky, that their three friends were changing, mostly for the better.

Taylor was able to reconnect with his sister, who was overjoyed to have a niece. His two best friends from before the era of the Avengers, Nicole and Bryce, were getting married soon. He had a sweet little girl who made him smile more than he ever remembered smiling and a wife who had come to understand him on a level that no one else had cared to take the time to. SHIELD was paying for most of their living expenses with the assurance that if anything huge were to come up, they could call on Rush and Battalion to return. Taylor's life had changed for the better.

For Charlotte, she had gone a long way since the shy girl dressed as a vampire on Halloween sneaking M&M's. She had a child, a husband, best friends that would do anything for her instead of the former bullies of her high school. She had her GED, and a job writing professional book reviews from home, a dream job that she didn't even know existed before she got an offer for it through someone who had heard that she was leaving the Avengers to settle down. Her little Zoe was a miracle. She would probably have some sort of power, given that Taylor had that sort of gene, but the fact that Charlotte could even have a kid was amazing. Her powers were given to her through excessive radiation, something she had always sort assumed made her infertile. Her life had changed for the better.

It made Win, Hartlyn, and Ricky all wonder if they should really stay where they were. Then the elevator dinged again and they remembered the person who had convinced them to stay on this team with her leaving.

Monet stepped slowly out of the elevator, a loose white blouse swishing around her torso. Her dark hair had grown much longer in the past five years and she seemed paler, but she was definitely still Monet. A sad truth was that only Monet still had that five inch scar down the side of her face, gifted to her by a crazed man under the control of Aphrodite. No one blamed her for not really liking the reformed villainess.

Clint rose and went to give her a quick hug. "Hi, Monet."

Monet smiled back. Nothing in her could make her dislike Clint. Or, she thought as she looked around the room, anyone else in the room for that matter.

The tiny dark haired girl was a surprise. She had heard a rumor that Charlotte and Taylor had a kid, but hadn't ever met her. In fact, the woman holding her was a surprise, and the man near them. Hartlyn was only 17 the last time Monet had seen her, as a sort of flower girl who had just lost her pet cat. Ricky had been 20, and his flame colored hair had been absolutely everywhere, now it was cut much shorter. Win looked mostly the same.

Monet turned to say hi to Charlotte when the other woman enveloped her in a hug. "Hi Charlotte."

"Oh, Monet," Charlotte said softly. When she had last seen Win, Hartlyn, Ricky, and the rest of the original gang at Zoe's 2nd birthday party, Monet had been called to Europe for business. She was working as a 'concept artist' for movies and book covers and other sorts of things, drawing out costumes and landscapes and anything else that anyone needed. So seeing this person who she hadn't seen since her wedding day was rather emotional for Charlotte.

"Come on, guys, don't cry," Tony groaned. "Please just don't cry, I don't want to have to deal with that." Win turned and smacked Tony upside the head, who finally had the sense to stay quiet.

But it made Zoe giggle. And the giggle of a four year old child is extremely contagious. It spread to Hartlyn, and then Charlotte, then Ricky, then Tony, then Win, than Clint, then Steve, then Taylor, and it soon had everyone under its spell.

That broke any tension. The night was perfect. Everyone found rekindled friendships, and even Aphrodite emerged at one point and stuck close to Steve and Taylor, already infatuated with Zoe.

The group watched the Hobbit and had fun discussing it afterwards, just like they did on a regular base 7 or 8 years earlier. Everyone got caught up with any news the others held. They teased Steve for a while, asking when he and Aphrodite would have their own kid so Zoe could have a friend. Aphrodite, only 31 years old compared to her 100 year old partner, seemed to like the idea of having her own, but it made Steve blush, which kept the teasing going.

Ricky seemed to be gravitating closer and close to Hartlyn as the night went on, asking about the things she was working on even though he could do that any night. Aphrodite, who hadn't lost any of her powers, smirked knowingly at the two.

As beautiful and perfect as the night was, there was something underneath the smiles and sweetness. None of them forgot that they would all have to say goodbye. Monet would slip back into hiding and bury herself in work again. Charlotte, Taylor, and Zoe would drive to their modest house in Albany and life their domestic life. Everyone else would stay in StarkTower, driven back to mild depression for a week or two while they missed their friends.

It happened. Of course it happened. Congratulations were given to Steve and Aphrodite at the last minute by Monet, who left first to return her car and get back on a plane to go to California and meet with a group of movie producers. Maybe she could do things like that from home, but there was a part of Monet that didn't want to settle down. She had so many more adventures to go on.

A few near-tearful goodbyes later, and the Harris family was on their way too.

Hartlyn went to bed that night holding her picture of her and Sweetheart close to her. Too many nostalgic memories had been brought back.

Ricky stayed up late with Bruce, just watching his sciency things happen.

Win couldn't sleep at all. She sparred with Clint, who also couldn't sleep.

Tony could sleep, and for once he didn't have nightmares. The fond memories had driven them away.

Natasha went into her soundproofed dance room and cranked up the Wicked soundtrack, dancing until she couldn't dance anymore.

A little red car shot down the highway, the same soundtrack playing in it. Taylor didn't complain, he knew that's just what Charlotte played when she got nostalgic for any reason, and she had a very good reason to be nostalgic.

In the back seat, something was happening. Something that wouldn't seem big to anyone watching, but it was the most monumental thing the small occupant had ever done.

Zoe felt that somewhere in the deep recesses of her veins something was different. She'd been waiting for something like this, something to distinguish her as the daughter of two former superheroes.

She flexed her fingers and watched as the little flecks of dust in the air shifted into a whirling vortex. She felt the potential of that little swirling mass of air had and it scared her, so she balled her hand into a fist and it disappeared. Zoe smiled to herself, but didn't say anything. She would wait for the perfect time.

The world was changing, and it was all changing for the better.

**…I'm sad. This is it. That was these characters last hurrah, the final hooplah. **

**What did you guys think of the ending? The families thing, and the possible future families thing? Did you wish that something happened that didn't or are you happy with who this went? What can I do different for Everyone's Fight that would make it better? It there anything else you want to say to finish this story off?**

**I've had so much fun working with you guys and I look forward to doing it again. **

**Review Responses (I'll give you guys all a response through PM, because I won't be able to post them here)**

**Munamana: Thanks for that! I'm sorry that Taylor isn't the ruler of the world by now, but I think he found something better. J**

**Storm229: You did end up reviewing twice, so this is for both of them. I did love Eira, and I will love writing her. I think she'll make some friends. I don't like saying goodbye to this story either…Thanks you so very muich for being the most loyal reader/reviewer that I have.**

** I'll make sure Storm229 and Munamana and Mythomagic-Champion are all thanked in the next story by their characters being as integral as I can manage given the cast I've been given.**

**One last time, I love you all so very much. It's been a good 4 months and a good 33,00 words, a good 16 chapters. **

**Until next time. **


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